Louisiana National Guardsmen and other responders went door-to-door in areas around New Orleans on Wednesday as the region dug out from overnight tornadoes, with Gov. John Bel Edwards declaring a state of emergency and calling the destruction “devastating.”
Other tornadoes spawned by the same system caused so much damage in Texas that the governor declared a disaster in 16 counties. Buildings were shredded in Alabama, where torrential rainfall was recorded.
Two people were killed and multiple others were injured as the storm front blew across the South, upending homes and the lives of the residents in them.
The dead included Connor Lambert, 25, in St. Bernard Parish, next to New Orleans, and a woman north of Dallas. Coroner’s officials said Lambert died of “multiple blunt force trauma.”
Edwards declared an emergency in St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes. After flying over the area Wednesday, he walked the streets of the tornado-stricken Arabi community near New Orleans, greeting storm victims picking through the wreckage of their homes.
“It’s awfully sad, because the destruction is so devastating,” Edwards said. “The good news is most of your neighbors outside of this narrow swath — they’re able to help.”
In front of her roofless home, another woman told Edwards she, her husband and their 1-year-old son took refuge in the bathroom as the tornado bore down.
“We just dropped down, and he jumped on top of us, covering our son,” she said. “So scary.”
There were “no injuries, casualties or significant damage reported in Orleans Parish,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Wednesday, but tornadoes touched down in Arabi, just east of the city, and further east in Lacombe, across Lake Pontchartrain.
source
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Hang in there Louisiana! You can survive this, and so much more!
The footage with the cruise ship is eerie
praying your safe from japan
OMG
Remember ladies and gentlemen if it looks like the tornado isn't moving it's because it's coming at you…
Word of advice. If a tornado looks like it's not moving, it's headed right at you.
Watching from California. No thank you. My heart goes out to y’all.
It bugs the living crap outta me to see people watch a tornado and cheer, hi 5, etc when they see a power burst or a chunk of debris. Folks are either dying or losing everything they own. C’mon people, at least pretend that you have a soul
Interessant wie schnell der Strom weg ist! Vorallem wie schnell sich der tornado dreht. Hoffentlich ist keinem groß was passiert, sondern nur Sachschäden.
Louisiana gets hit but Mississippi and Alabama always takes a beating. Lot of tornadoes in Mississippi aren't seen due it's large population of pine trees. It's called the Jungle by storm chasers.
I swear Louisiana never catches a break… big prayers for Louisiana
Let's just stand here and film all this risk our lives then laugh at some poor people who lost everything
I can't believe that in none of those videos do you hear tornado sirens
Tornado come anytime on land and water.
This one was I think was worse then the Hattiesburg one and that one was an F4 in 2013 New Orleans just can't get a break at all between this and the 4 tropical systems that hit near there in 2020
Why didn't someone run over there and kick that tornado in the balls?… Oh wait!
I drove through in my truck scariest thing ever.. my gmc is messed up pretty bad since a guys house came apart and I had to drive through it to get away
This is what my childhood nightmares looked like.
I just moved from New Orleans a couple months ago. New Orleans is still repairing from Ida, now this.
Only in the South do we stand there and record
Ohh myy… goodness gracious!!! This is awful I'm so sorry about this for all of you who live in new Orleans
Make sure you have a generator Because I do
I saw that on TV fox eight
Good New Orleans is nasty full of trash and trash people, hopefully it cleaned the area out.
Crazyyyy I went for my birthday march 17-20 and you don't think about these things when you're having a good time drinking and turning up.. it's hard to spot everything they have been through because the city and people are so loving and welcoming!! Praying for them!!!
How can anyone still afford to live there? Hasnt New Orleans been devastated by at least one Hurricane?
At 7:48 acUFO is seen flying from the tornado
its "the suck zone?
ALL great video…thank you. and Tornado Season has just started Be Safe.
God bless y'all down in Louisiana
Thing was moving fast
The Tornado hates churches
My best explanation for what we see at 7:42 is the rare phenomenon of ball lightning. If anyone has any meteorological insight into this please comment. It looks like it is produced in the tornado and falls gradually down to the ground.
With the trajectory of global warming, we’ll be seeing these more frequently.
I hate to ask such a question at this time but how do you cope mentally and financially? If you happen to live in a state that is often hit by tornados what is insurance like? Sorry if sounds dumb questions .
I have a coworker who had just come back from a vacation in New Orleans when this happened