Krotz Springs , Louisiana ( CNN ) -- The Nolan family spent the last few days packing up their belongings , moving out furniture , helping relatives and praying for a miracle in the face of the rising , menacing waters of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers . By Sunday , they had a few things they still had to do : clear out their trailer home in the Halphen Hollow subdivision of Krotz Springs , Louisiana , in order to head to higher ground ahead of the 5 p.m. mandatory evacuation deadline , and find a way to celebrate their daughter Mayah 's fourth birthday . Louisiana residents rush to get out of flood 's path . So , after all the frantic last-minute preparations were complete , Jake Nolan finally made it to a nearby grocery store to get a cake . It was in hopes of giving Mayah a little bit of sunshine during what her father has described as a terrifying experience . `` She ca n't swim , and she hears all the stories about the water rising , '' Jake Nolan said . `` She is scared she wo n't be able to make it out . '' The Nolans are n't alone . They are among 750 people in low-lying areas around Krotz Springs who were ordered to leave after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorized the opening of floodgates on the Morganza Spillway . The aim is to minimize greater devastation further downriver , in cities like Baton Rouge and New Orleans . But the consequence is that as many as 4,000 people , according to Louisiana Gov . Bobby Jindal , could have their homes submerged as waters are funneled into the Atchafalaya River Basin , between that river and the Mississippi . That includes the town of Krotz Springs , about 20 miles southwest of Morganza . This area is the first with a significant population seeing the rising water after this past weekend 's opening of four floodgates at the Morganza Spillway . Spillways explained . Jake Nolan said Sunday that he , his wife and their three children moved into the subdivision two months ago . Now , they are frantically preparing to move out -- heading to Jake 's sister 's house until the floodwaters recede . `` We just moved in here , and now we 're in the process of moving everything out , '' said Nolan , 23 . `` I have no choice . If not , I 'm going to lose everything . '' Handling the logistics of a last-minute move is one thing . But as challenging is explaining what 's happening , and why , to a young child . Nolan said his daughter Mayah has `` heard the stories of the snakes and the alligators and everything else that 's liable to come up the river . '' `` She does n't really understand , '' her father said . Brett Ansley , a Krotz Springs native , is also trying to come to grips with the Corps ' decision that has turned his life upside down . Stars talk about flooding and the response . By day , he 's an inspector at an oil refinery , checking pipes and welding . But now he has put that and everything else on hold , as he hitched up his trailer home to his truck in order to head to higher ground . Asked about the approaching waters , the first words that sprang to Ansley 's mind were `` crazy '' and `` unreal . '' `` It 's a lot of water that 's going to be coming around here , '' the 24-year-old said . His great-grandmother was in Krotz Springs for the great flood of 1927 , which inundated 165 million acres , killed 246 people and left another 600,000 homeless throughout the Mississippi River system , according to a National Weather Service report . That flood , ironically , spurred the creation of the Corps of Engineers , empowering them to create systems to guard against further calamities -- and giving them the authority to let waters flow from some levees to wash away some areas in order to spare others . This , of course , is what 's happening with Krotz Springs , Melville and other communities nearby . Ansley recalls his grandfather , too , telling him about the historic 1937 flood . The family stuck around the southeastern Louisiana community , but he 's not sure what will happen when the floodwaters finally subside this time around . `` I do n't know who 's going to come back , who 's going to stay gone , '' he said . `` It wo n't be the same . I 'd like to come back , but we 'll have to wait and see what happens . ''
Hundreds in Louisiana 's Red River Valley have been ordered to relocate . ` ` We just moved in here and now we 're in the process of sorting everything out '' Krotz ##town native ' Ansley is n't sure if he or she will return afterward .