About an hour after a violent tornado damaged a hospital and homes in New Iberia, the threat of severe weather shifted to the New Orleans metro area. The severe weather event lasting several days spawned tornadoes from Texas to Louisiana.
About an hour after a violent tornado damaged a hospital and homes in New Iberia, Louisiana, the threat of severe weather moved into the New Orleans metro area and triggered at least one confirmed tornado.
The severe weather was created by a large coast-to-coast storm system that produced blizzard conditions on the Plains and tornadoes in the south, from Texas to Alabama.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 15 active tornado warnings at once across the Southeast, issued by the National Weather Service.
Shortly after, a tornado was spotted on the ground moving through New Orleans, according to a local fire department.
According to the region’s largest electricity supplier, more than 40,000 energy customers lost power during the severe storms.
FOX weather correspondent Mitti Hicks was in New Orleans as tornado warnings began to approach. The NWS issued a tornado warning for Orleans and Jefferson Parishes just before 4 p.m. CT
Conditions soon began to deteriorate around Lake Pontchartrain, where Hicks was. The lightning crossed the water and the wind started to whip the trees.
“Things just changed drastically in 20 minutes. You can’t even see about 30 feet in front of me,” Hicks said.
Immediately after the storm, Jefferson Parish Councilman Scott Walker began assessing the damage.
“It was in the West Bank, where the tornado kind of formed, and then the river went through the city of New Orleans and caused damage in the town of Gretna, old Gretna, a few blocks away There was a Winn-Dixie off the West Bank Highway, which is kind of a highway that takes you to the Crescent City connector in the city – the roof collapsed there and there is damage important to this store,” Walker said.
Cindy DeLucca Hernandez was in Arabi, Louisiana when she saw the supercell.
“It was 4:07 p.m. and I was coming home from work trying to fight off the rain,” Hernandez said. “We were at the traffic light and saw the debris and got hit, so I put the car in reverse and waited. I was in shock.”
As of Wednesday evening, authorities had reported no deaths related to the storm that hit the subway; however, a series of earlier storms reportedly killed at least three people statewide.
New Orleans is no stranger to destructive tornadoes
In March, two tornadoes tore through part of New Orleans, killing a 25-year-old man and leaving a wide path of destruction.
The larger of the two, rated at least EF-3 by the NWS, was considered a large multi-vortex tornado that tracked 11 miles into Arabi and the Lower Ninth Ward.
Areas damaged are Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, and Jefferson parishes. Some of the same communities saw damage in the latest incident.
The town of Arabi was also devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some places were 10 to 20 feet underwater when the levees broke.
WHAT IS A MULTI-VORTEX TORNADO
At least 36 tornadoes have been reported since Tuesday from Oklahoma and Texas eastward to Louisiana and Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service.
Source: Fox Weather