In Cameron, Louisiana on Wednesday, June 26, 1957, residents were listening to advisories from the U.S. Weather Bureau on Hurricane Audrey in the Gulf of Mexico. Whitney Bartie and his family lived on Front Ridge, a ridge back a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico that was at about 5-7 feet elevation. Bartie, also known as Uncle Toon, was not unfamiliar with hurricanes, although there had not been one to directly impact the parish in 39 years. But monster storms from the Gulf were part of local lore. Bulletins from the U.S. Weather Bureau on the evening of the 26th indicated that residents had at least twelve hours to get out. Bartie retired late that evening.
He awakened around 5 a.m., hearing water underneath his house making a sloshing sound. He rushed to start his car, but it had already been drowned by the rising water. The water was coming up so fast. It was like nothing he had ever seen. Off his front porch, all he could see was water. He knew that what he was looking at was the Gulf of Mexico. He and his entire family joined hands as the house swayed with each pounding wave. The water began rising quickly within the house and they were forced to make their way onto the roof of their house.
Things were going from bad to worse on the roof. It was raining so hard that visibility was only a few feet. Huge waves were plucking Bartie’s family members from the roof one by one until only he was left. Giant waves were tossing the makeshift life raft higher and higher until it turned over, plunging Mr. Bartie into the angry sea.
He was rescued by a freezer that floated by. Bartie grabbed hold and held on for dear life. The surge would propel his four miles inland before his lifeboat crashed into a tree. Bartie scrambled up into the tree and stayed there, blasted by wind and rain for several hours as he watched the countryside battered about by the waves. He saw houses loosened from their foundations and car floating like toys. Finally the storm abated, but Bartie had lost everything, including his wife Iona and children Whitney, Jr., Shirley Lee, Clarence, Linda and Harry Ray, all under nine years old.
Bartie was one of the survivors who sued the U.S. Weather Bureau, but the defendant prevailed. After all, that was the state of the science of hurricane forecasting in 1957.
