Man who was attacked by alligator disappeared after Hurricane Ida in Louisiana

a a large alligator tore off a man’s arm as he passed through an area of ​​Louisiana flooded by the rains brought by Hurricane Ida, and now the man is gone, the sheriff’s office reported.

The 71-year-old wife told MPs she heard screams around noon Monday and saw the alligator attacking her husband in Slidell, a suburb of New Orleans, as she left, the office said the St. Tammany District Sheriff in a statement.

According to the woman, the alligator was holding it and turning around, Police Captain Lance Vitter told The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate.

The woman told authorities the alligator tore off the man’s arm, rendering him unconscious.

She added that when the alligator stopped its attack, she was able to get her husband out of the water and went to get the first aid kit. When he realized the severity of his injuries, he got into his canoe and paddled to a higher area 1 kilometer (1 mile) to seek help, the sheriff’s office said in the text. . When she returned to the officers, her husband was missing.

The sheriff’s office, which did not identify the man, said he had used flood waters and boats to try to locate him, “but all attempts were unsuccessful.”

In addition, they urged locals to be extra vigilant when walking through the flooded areas as wildlife including alligators, black bears, poisonous snakes and wild pigs may have approached them. urban areas after being displaced by Ida.

The rescue missions and the story of the devastation caused this Sunday by the arrival in the United States of the “catastrophic” Hurricane Ida, which killed at least two people in Louisiana, started on Monday in the midst of desolation and power outage, It affects over a million customers and the entire city of New Orleans.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday that Ida caused “massive damage” in virtual meeting with the governors and mayors of the affected areas in which he announced that some 5,000 members of the National Guard had visited the affected area.

Biden confirmed the death of one person by Ida, considered one of the strongest hurricanes to make landfall in the country, and pointed out that this number is likely to increase. The Louisiana Department of Health later confirmed the second: “We unfortunately confirmed the death of a man who drowned after his vehicle attempted to cross flood waters near I-10 and West End Blvd. in New Orleans. . The coroner considers this death to be linked to the storm. This brings the current number of storm-related deaths from Hurricane Ida to 2 today. “

The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, spoke in the same direction, who ensured that deaths can increase “dramatically” and that the “catastrophic” impact of the cyclone means a long-term recovery.

Meanwhile, the first images show a terrible panorama with people in boats sailing through flooded streets, uprooted trees, downed power lines, destruction of homes, offices and hospitals, highway closures due to debris and landslides on embankments.

Since birth the storm was destined to turn into a monster. It formed from hot, humid, cloud-filled air. It hatched in the Gulf of Mexico, drawing its strength from water hotter than normal.

When the hurricane Ida landed in Port Fourchon, LouisianaSunday was the perfect example of a disaster caused by climate change. The fierce and rapidly growing storm has winds of 150 mph, torrential rain and something else two meters of tide storm on the most vulnerable part of the coast of United States.

(With AP information)

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