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A driver calls the insurance company: "Hello! My car sank because of an alligator." This is how the conversation with the insurance agent must have started. And no, this is not a joke.
It actually happened in Chalmette, Louisiana, at 6:30 on Monday morning. The driver of a Honda Fit failed to see in time that the car in front of him slowed down to take a look at a giant alligator sitting in the middle of the Paris Road.
To avoid rear-ending the vehicle in front of him, the driver pulled left, straight into the bayou stripping along the road.
A local tow company came to rescue the Honda. Photos from the scene show the Honda being pulled back to land. But the hatchback is probably going to end up in a scrap yard, with no change whatsoever to get back on the road again, after spending quite some time in the water.
It turns out that the Honda plunging into the water and the car in front trying to avoid the alligator were both useless. Authorities announced that the alligator was already dead by the time the two vehicles arrived at the scene.
Other motorists confirmed that they had seen the gator in the exact same spot and it wasn't moving. It is, though, unclear how it died. Authorities are running an investigation to determine if it was hit by a car or if there was something different that caused its death.
This was far from being the first time a driver had a third-degree encounter with the alligators. Back in 2023, we reported how Google Maps managed to save the life of a driver who had plunged into alligator-infested waters trying to avoid a wild hog while driving on a road in Indianatown, Florida.
He lost control, the car swerved and plunged into the water of a nearby canal upside down. It was the moment his smartphone detected the crash and automatically called 911.
It provided the exact coordinates, and the operators were able to determine the exact location. First responders quickly arrived at the scene and pulled the driver out of the submerged vehicle.
A year before this incident, another motorist crashed into another alligator while driving east on County Road 672, in Lithia, Florida. Following the collision with the 11-foot (3.3-meter) giant, his car veered off the road and into a ditch on the northside of the road. None of those involved survived the accident.
Five years ago, driver Roger Light filmed an eight-foot alligator casually swimming through rain water on a flooded sector of a road in Florida while he was waiting for the green light at an intersection.
Louisiana and Florida have the largest population of alligators in the United States. There are around 1.3 million of them in Florida alone, according to the Wildlife Conservation Commission.
To avoid rear-ending the vehicle in front of him, the driver pulled left, straight into the bayou stripping along the road.
A local tow company came to rescue the Honda. Photos from the scene show the Honda being pulled back to land. But the hatchback is probably going to end up in a scrap yard, with no change whatsoever to get back on the road again, after spending quite some time in the water.
It turns out that the Honda plunging into the water and the car in front trying to avoid the alligator were both useless. Authorities announced that the alligator was already dead by the time the two vehicles arrived at the scene.
Other motorists confirmed that they had seen the gator in the exact same spot and it wasn't moving. It is, though, unclear how it died. Authorities are running an investigation to determine if it was hit by a car or if there was something different that caused its death.
This was far from being the first time a driver had a third-degree encounter with the alligators. Back in 2023, we reported how Google Maps managed to save the life of a driver who had plunged into alligator-infested waters trying to avoid a wild hog while driving on a road in Indianatown, Florida.
He lost control, the car swerved and plunged into the water of a nearby canal upside down. It was the moment his smartphone detected the crash and automatically called 911.
It provided the exact coordinates, and the operators were able to determine the exact location. First responders quickly arrived at the scene and pulled the driver out of the submerged vehicle.
A year before this incident, another motorist crashed into another alligator while driving east on County Road 672, in Lithia, Florida. Following the collision with the 11-foot (3.3-meter) giant, his car veered off the road and into a ditch on the northside of the road. None of those involved survived the accident.
Five years ago, driver Roger Light filmed an eight-foot alligator casually swimming through rain water on a flooded sector of a road in Florida while he was waiting for the green light at an intersection.
Louisiana and Florida have the largest population of alligators in the United States. There are around 1.3 million of them in Florida alone, according to the Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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