SLIDELL, La. (WGNO) — A Louisiana woman says her husband was attacked and dismembered by an alligator on Monday during flooding from Hurricane Ida.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office (STPSO) received a call around 11:30 a.m. from a woman claiming her husband had been attacked by an alligator. According to the STPSO, the retired elderly man had gone under his home to retrieve tools needed to repair damage caused by Hurricane Ida on Sunday.
After hearing a commotion, the wife – who was not identified by name – reportedly ran outside just in time to see her 71-year-old husband in the jaws of the alligator as the reptile ripped the man’s arm from his body.
“When she opened up the door, the alligator had him in the death roll,” local Sheriffs Capt. Lance Vitter told the New York Times.
After struggling to get her husband onto the first step of the house, the woman immediately went to get help, but upon her return, her husband was gone.
Search and rescue teams spent the remainder of the day looking for the injured man. The man’s body has not been found, and STPSO has yet to pronounce the man dead.
Nearby water levels elevated more than four feet due to torrential rainfall received from the storm. Local The Times reports that the home is surrounded by marsh in an area known for alligators.
The disappearance remains under investigation.