NEW ORLEANS — At least seven tornadoes struck southeastern Louisiana Tuesday, February 7, which injured about 20 people, destroyed homes and businesses, flipped cars and trucks, and left about 10,000 customers without power, but no deaths were reported, the Louisiana governor said.
Governor John Bel Edwards took an aerial tour and made a disaster declaration before meeting with officials in New Orleans. The worst damage was in the same 9th Ward that was so heavily flooded in Hurricane Katrina.
Edwards, a Democrat, said he was heartbroken to see some of the same people suffering again, and promised that the state will provide the affected citizens with the resources they need as quickly as possible.
He said seven parishes were hit by tornadoes in an afternoon of tumultuous weather across southeastern Louisiana.
Hatchet-wielding firefighters walked up and down the debris-strewn Chef Menteur Highway after the storm, looking for anyone missing or trapped. Their primary search came up empty, and a secondary search was planned to make sure and to better assess the damage.
Edwards said he called in the Louisiana National Guard to police and secure the area, and urged people to stay away.
The storm ripped apart homes, toppled a gas station canopy, snapped tall power poles and flipped a food truck upside-down. It left shards of metal hanging from trees, and trapped a truck driver as power lines wrapped around his cab.
The wall of severe weather also delivered heavy rain and hail to Mississippi and Alabama.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the White House was monitoring the weather's impact, and that President Donald Trump would be reaching out to local and state officials.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in southeastern Louisiana affected by today's severe tornadoes,” US President Donald Trump said in his Twitter post.
The Baton Rouge area also got hit. Ascension Parish Sheriff's spokeswoman Allison Hudson said three people suffered minor injuries and several homes and some other buildings were damaged in the historic part of Donaldsonville, about 20 miles southwest of the capital.
In Killian, just east of Baton Rouge, the mayor said several houses were destroyed and several others damaged, but an elderly couple suffered the only injuries he knew of: One a broken leg, the other a broken arm.
“How you manage to get blown completely across the street with cinderblocks flying and no worse than a couple broken limbs — apparently the good Lord was looking after them,” said Mayor Craig McGehee. (AP)