An hour after returning to his Covington home today along the Bogue Falaya River, Alan Fortier found himself in shock.

Poplar Drive leading up to his home was impassable, swamped in floodwater as the river continued to rise with heavy rain bands from Hurricane Gustav.

'��When you live on the river you know what is going to happen,'�� he said of the common flooding. '��But this is extreme.'��

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The rising river has forced Covington Mayor Candace Watkins to call an emergency evacuation for everyone south of Third Street. She fears homes and streets will flood in numerous blocks north of the river.

The river continues '��to rise to a dangerous level,'�� Watkins said. '��(People) need to realize this water is coming up quickly and to a high level.'��

Fortier and his wife Celeste Fortier discovered the rising tides first hand. After returning home from an evacuation in Baton Rouge, Fortier jumped in a canoe and paddled to his home raised 9 feet. The water was 5 feet high, engulfing his staircase, he said.

As he turned the corner headed back to Poplar Drive and to higher ground, Fortier, shirtless and clutching a water bottle, was greeted by CBS news cameras and Covington Police.

'��I didn'��t know what to think,'�� he said.

Meanwhile across town, the river nearly crested a bridge over the Bogue Falaya River leading into Covington from Louisiana Highway 190.

Columbia Street Landing residents Rick and Susan Brunner said their nerves were rattled.

Their back yard, the sight of Friday night at the Landing concert series, was swallowed by the river'��s rising tides.

The water seemed to rise at least 4 feet Tuesday afternoon in five hours, the couple said.

'��I'��ve seen it come up before, but nowhere near that close, that fast,'�� Rick Brunner said. '��How do you spell scrambled eggs? That'��s what'��s going on in my head right now.'��

Susan Brunner, who along with her husband owns the art gallery Brunner Gallery off Columbia Street, said she fears reliving the stress that displaced her family members in New Orleans three years ago during Hurricane Katrina.

'��I hope it doesn'��t happen here,'�� she said looking out her backyard at a stick tied with tape every foot. The water was just above the first mark, about a foot high as it continued to rise inland.

Their dog, Billy, splashed near the stick.

'��I kind of feel like I'��m in a camp near the water,'�� Rick Brunner said.

The Brunners, avid art collectors, also urged anyone who with art pieces and who feared flooding to store their art at the couple'��s gallery at 215 N. Columbia St. E-mail the couple at info@brunnergallery.com, or sbrunner@brunnergallery.com for more details.

Back near Poplar Drive, it was unclear if the residents would head Watkins'�� urging to evacuate. As Covington Police rumbled through the street on ATVs over shattered tree branches and down power lines, Fortier said it might be time to leave again.

'��What can you do?'�� he said. '��It doesn'��t happen often.'��

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