The Marks Post: The Great Flood of 2013

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The area has been impacted it seems by one flood after another since last August. Thursday of this week was the fourth anniversary of a lesser known flood in Baton Rouge where the only victim was my 2009 Dodge Avenger.
On that day in 2013, LSU was playing Auburn in Baton Rouge in the annual Gold Game. In our usual pre-tailgating group text messages, Jeff Stewart, Jake Deville, Jason Fontenot and I decided we would get to our tailgating spot in front of Kirby Smith at 5:30 that morning of the game.
The game was not until 7:00 that night, but we knew we had to get there early being that there were less and less free parking spots around Kirby Smith because of the construction projects.
I stayed the night before at mom’s condo off of Essen Lane. When I left there the next morning, I noticed that it was still dark outside and that it was slightly raining. After leaving her condo, I turned on Perkins Road off of Essen and went down my usual route to the LSU campus.
The rain remained steady on the drive as I turned off of Perkins onto Lee Drive. My plan was to then turn right of Highland Road, but I noticed that the intersection of Lee and Perkins was flooded. I then decided to take a right on Burbank Drive by the Winn-Dixie.
I got all the way down Burbank without a hitch until I got past Walk-Ons. My car at that point stopped. I had seen water in the road, but I misjudged how deep it was. I tried to back up, but I was stuck.
I called 911, and the dispatcher patched me over to the city police. I told them what happened and asked if they could send a tow truck. Thinking that a tow truck would be there shortly, I decided to stay in the car. Water then started coming in my car. Knowing my limited swimming ability, I decided it was best for me to get out of the car.
I opened the front driver’s side door, and water started gushing into the car. I got out and waded through water that was nearly up to my waist. I managed to get to dry land on the shoulder of the road next to a hurricane fence. There was nobody else around for miles. I started to pray every prayer I knew and to sing every Gospel song I could think of as I waited for the tow truck.
In the middle of my prayers and Gospel singing, I got a call from Jeff asking where I was because he had already gotten to the tailgating spot. I told him that I
flooded my car. Jake and Jason then called me to say they were on the way to meet Jeff. I told them what happened, and they said that they were going to come pick me up. Jason got close to where I was marooned, but the water was too deep for his truck to pass and get to me. I still had to wait. While waiting, I saw trucks pass down the road with ease as they splashed water to where I was standing.
An hour passed, and there still was no tow truck. I called 911 again and went through the same process as earlier to check on my status. The sun was up by this time, and I could see my car floating in the middle of Burbank. By this point my phone had died because it got wet when I was using it in the rain.
Another hour went by until a constable got there and finally blocked off the road because of the high water. I asked him when the tow truck was coming to rescue me. He said it was not the city’s responsibility to call me a tow truck. He also said that even if it was the city’s responsibility, a tow truck would not even be able to get to me. I asked then what was the best thing to do with my car to which he replied, “Leave it.”
That is what I did. I left my car floating on Burbank as I proceeded to walk across campus to our tailgating spot in front of Kirby Smith. When I reached my destination looking all disheveled, everybody started asking me what happened. I proceeded to tell everybody the whole ordeal.
Somebody told me to call State Farm to make an insurance claim. I used Kevin Aguillard’s phone to make the claim, and State Farm said they would send over a tow truck.
Grant Veillon and Jake drove me back to my car so that I could wait again for a tow truck. They told me they would wait for me down the road at Izzo’s Illegal Burrito. I managed to open my trunk and get a beer outside of my ice chest. Everybody who passed by saw me perched on top of my trunk drinking a beer while waiting to get towed.
A tow truck finally arrived soon after, but there was a problem. It was not the tow truck that State Farm had gotten for me. I did not have enough cash on me for them to tow me to the shop, so I told them to tow me to Izzo’s so I could borrow some cash from Grant and Jake. We got to Izzo’s in the tow truck, but, by that time, Grant and Jake had already left. I paid the tow truck driver what cash I had on hand and left my car in the Izzo’s parking lot. I again had to walk to the tailgating spot.
In the end I was eventually able to have my car towed the next day to Salisbury Dodge in Baton Rouge. I went back a week or so later to get what I could out of the car. I could not open my trunk, so I had to leave everything inside. I was able to salvage my Saints floor mats that I continue to have in my car today.
State Farm cut me a check that was enough to pay off my totaled Avenger, and I had enough left over to use as a down payment on my 2013 Hyundai Elantra. The situation may have worked out with my insurance, but it left a traumatic toll on me. I get flashbacks of the incident whenever I drive through heavy rains and whenever I see water in the road. At least I learned a valuable lesson out of The Great Flood of 2013.