Raging Atchafalaya claiming residence

Imagine hearing what sounds like thunder at two in the morning and finding out it was really your back yard being swallowed up by the Atchafalaya River.

That is exactly what happen to Glen and Linda Gallet early Sunday morning at their home in the tiny community of Happytown, just north of the Butte La Rose I-10 exit.

After hearing that sound, Glen got up and went to check it out. With the light of the full moon he saw water where his backyard once was. What he did not see — hasn't seen since — are the two pickup trucks, boat on a trailer, and the four-wheeler that had been parked back here. Presumably they were swallowed by the raging waters of the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel.

By daylight, family and friends were hurrying to help get the Gallet's belongings from the house. Linda looked on helplessly as she watched the waters claim her property.

As of 9 a.m Sunday, the river, with flood waters diverted from the Mississippi, had claimed two acres. The undertow is stealing land from the bottom and the brisk current is taking it away. Two homes and a hunting camp are in danger of being carried out by the swift current.

Chief Deputy Dannie Brown with the St. Martin Sheriff's Office, who had been out in a patrol boat, said that they dropped an anchor at the end of a 20-foot line and it did not touch bottom.