LaTonya Norton
Published Sep 07, 2015
NEW ORLEANS, LA —It was a close call over the weekend for several people on board a house boat on Lake Pontchartrain.
It all began around 9:30 p.m. Saturday night. The U.S. Coast Guard received a mayday call in reference to a houseboat sinking in the lake with 35 people on board.
"We were all having a good time and everything went bad," houseboat owner Roger Cull said.
It was a holiday weekend gathering, turned nightmare for those on board.
"It was very dark. There was about 4-foot seas out there. It was very rough because that big storm had just rolled through," said Rebecca Shyrer with the Coast Guard.
Shyrer was on duty winding down her shift when the call came, prompting a search-and-rescue effort for her eight-member crew.
"We weren't too sure exactly why they were taking on water, whether it was just an open hatch and the rain water made them believe that they were taking on water or if they had actually struck something that was making water come in," she said.
The houseboat was tied to pilings near the University of New Orleans and the Seabrook Marina. It had been battered by the storm that came through.
"The seas were pushing (the boat), crashing them into the pilings even harder," Shyrer said. "One of the pilings had gone through where the anchor goes."
The engine room had flood and with seconds to spare, Coast Guard boat crews arrived. A good Samaritan on a pontoon helped the two rescue crews evacuate the men and women on board.
"There fast response, their ability to show up with the right tools, they saved everything I own in the boat," Cull said. "Had that boat gone under, I would have lost everything I own. Thank you so much to the men and women that were out there in the middle of the storm."
"This was actually the man's home. It wasn't just a barge that was out with people celebrating. They were celebrating that the guy had just bought this houseboat and we ended up saving the man's home," Shyrer said.
But it wasn't just the boat the crews saved, but also the 35 lives on board.
"Our crews worked together. Everybody came together and stayed calm," Shyrer said. "(It) was a lot of adrenaline and it felt good to be able to help."
No injuries were reported during the rescue effort. Cull said he had 57 lifejackets on his houseboat, enough for every single person on the vessel.