SLIDELL, La. — Two boaters reported missing Sunday afternoon were found Monday afternoon at a camp near Bayou Lacombe after they said they had spent the prior evening and night clinging to a single life jacket after their boat sunk in the Rigolets during Tropical Storm Cristobal.
According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, Ted Roach, 35, and Jennifer Ligoni, 31, said they spent several hours afloat and making their way to shore before arriving at Goose Point some time Monday morning.
According to Coast Guard officials, Roach and Lingoni went boating near Slidell around 1 p.m. Sunday, as Tropical Storm Cristobal approached landfall on Louisiana and brought storm surge, wind and rain.
The pair reportedly left Salt Bayou near the Rigolets strait in a 20-foot yellow skiff and were supposed to return in 30 minutes. By 3:30 p.m., however, the boat had not come back and the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office was called.
The Coast Guard helicopter searched through the night with no sight of the vessel, and STPSO Marine units resumed their search at first light on Monday morning, before discovering the pair.
“Persons should reconsider going on the water during a Tropical Storm,” said Scott Talbo of the U.S. Coast Guard in New Orleans. “Unpredictable sea conditions, winds, and currents can cause even the most experienced of mariners to get into trouble. Those same conditions make it very difficult to locate mariners in distress by aircraft and vessels trying to search”
As of Monday morning, Cristobal has weakened into a tropical depression with 35 mph winds. It continues to move inland and has passed north of Baton Rouge. It is forecast to move northwest into northern Louisiana and Arkansas today. Then it will move into the Midwest on Tuesday and Wisconsin on Wednesday.
Cristobal made landfall as a tropical storm around 5:00 p.m. on the southeast Louisiana coast east of Grand Isle. Some associated showers continue Sunday night.
Storm surge is leveling off and beginning to gradually fall. Windy conditions continue with sustained wind speeds around 20-25 mph and higher gusts.
Rain totals so far have been 1-3 inches for most of southeast Louisiana, but around 7 inches have fallen at Gulfport, MS.
Bands of rain continue to spiral around the center over and across Southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Coast Monday. Winds will be out of the south at 15-20 mph with higher gusts, and this southerly flow will keep the lake levels up and we will have some coastal flooding through today.
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