Angola , Louisiana ( CNN ) -- Prisoners in southeastern Louisiana are helping to fill sandbags and patch up levee holes along the swollen Mississippi in an all-hands-on-deck effort to keep the mighty river at bay . At the Louisiana State Penitentiary , also known as Angola , parts of the sprawling prison complex are already underwater . An outer-ring levee was breached and some 2,000 inmates have been evacuated . But an estimated 2,500 inmates are still at the prison , working to fill holes and keep the grounds dry . The 18,000-acre facility has a secondary levee that is currently holding the bulk of the water back . The prison is bordered on three sides by the Mississippi River . `` This is 18,000 acres -- this is as large as Manhattan , '' said Burl Cain , the warden at Angola . `` Think about evacuating Manhattan -- boom ! '' Elsewhere in Louisiana , inmates in Pointe Coupee Parish have filled more than 110,000 sandbags , some of which were expected to be sent to St. Landry Parish , said CNN affiliate WBRZ . Others were used to shore up levees . `` The inmates take a lot of pride in doing this . They 've been working very hard , '' said Point Coupee Sheriff Bud Torres , the station reported . Like many states , Louisiana is struggling to cope with the worst flood to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937 . Severe storms swept across the Midwest Sunday , bringing with them the threat of even more rain . Louisiana Gov . Bobby Jindal has asked for federal assistance in grappling with flooding stemming from the Morganza Spillway , where 17 bays have been opened in hopes of sparing New Orleans farther downstream . So far , the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has delivered nearly 150,000 sandbags , 30,000 cubic yards of sand and 33,000 linear feet of fabric-lined baskets , the governor 's office said . Approximately 1,150 Louisiana National Guard members have been mobilized . Mandatory evacuations were in effect Saturday in Happy Town and the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area , the St. Martin Parish Sheriff 's Office said . Evacuations in Butte La Rose have been ordered to start on Tuesday . Spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks , meaning it will be some time before the river falls below flood stage , allowing evacuees to return . In just the St. Landry and St. Martin parishes alone , more than 3,000 people have evacuated , the governor 's office said last week . But so far , the prisoners left at Angola are holding their ground . `` There 's a lot of worse places you can be , '' said inmate Darren Jarvis in response to a question about how he felt about working to save the institution that imprisons him . `` I would hate to see what it would be like if I had to go somewhere else . ''
Parts of the Louisiana State Penitentiary are already underwater . About 2,000 inmates have been evacuated . The rest are working to help patch holes in the levee and keep the facility dry . Inmates in Pointe Coupee Parish were told they could leave their homes on Tuesday, but many did not want to risk flooding by driving through flooded streets or into a storm drain that runs along Highway 190 near Lake Charles.