Damaging tornado hits New Orleans
Meteorologists were surveying significant storm damage across southeastern Louisiana on Thursday in the wake of a tornado outbreak that killed at least three people Tuesday and Wednesday and roared through a part of New Orleans that had been devastated by another tornado in March.
The damage from nearly a dozen suspected or confirmed tornadoes was so widespread, the National Weather Service said its work to evaluate the severity of the tornadoes would probably continue into Friday and possibly extend into southern Mississippi as well. The tornadoes came during a two-day outbreak of deadly storms across the South, the product of a weather system that was bringing wintry weather to much of the country.
One tornado that passed along the southern edge of New Orleans caused major damage in Gretna in Jefferson Parish before roaring northeastward into St. Bernard Parish, where Sheriff James Pohlmann said at a news conference Wednesday evening that it caused a two-mile path of destruction but only minor injuries. On Thursday afternoon, the Weather Service reported that the tornado had earned a rating of EF2 on the 0-to-5 scale on tornado intensity.
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Arabi, a community in St. Bernard that borders parts of New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward and was devastated by a tornado March 22, suffered major damage. That March tornado, rated an EF3 and the strongest on record to hit New Orleans, killed a 25-year-old man and damaged or destroyed dozens of homes in Arabi.
Four injuries were also reported Wednesday in Orleans Parish. As Wednesday’s tornado swept across the region, debris could be seen falling from the sky on lower Canal Street in New Orleans, ABC News meteorologist Rob Marciano tweeted.
First responders reported large amounts of damage throughout Jefferson Parish, where the tornado may have first touched down. The parish said on Twitter that multiple poles and lines were down in the area.
The damage in St. Bernard Parish included broken roofs, said Guy McInnis, the parish president, at Wednesday’s news conference. “No structures are completely destroyed. It’s mostly shingle damage, and power should return in a couple of hours,” he said.
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“Please remember that we are not the only ones hit by a tornado tonight,” McInnis said. “We are like tornado alley.”
Photos and video from social media also revealed damage in Marrero, on the south side of the Mississippi River, and below downtown New Orleans in Jefferson Parish, where a shopping center appeared mangled.
As storms passed through southeast Louisiana on Wednesday evening, more than 38,000 customers were without power, according to PowerOutage. US. That was down to about 2,500 customers in St. Bernard Parish by midday Thursday.
🌪️ The Marrero - Arabi EF-2 that occurred in the afternoon hours on Dec 14th was unfortunately the second tornado to impact Arabi this year, only 8 months and 22 days after the devastating EF3 on March 22nd. Our thoughts and hearts go to those recovering in this hard time. #lawx pic.twitter.com/XISb6FC6IM
— NWS New Orleans (@NWSNewOrleans) December 16, 2022In addition to the twister that tore through New Orleans, a tornado swept through nearby St. Charles Parish earlier in the day Wednesday, killing a 56-year-old woman and destroying her house.
Eight others were injured and at least a dozen structures were damaged in St. Charles Parish, including the sheriff’s office firing range, parish officials told reporters at a news conference. The tornado responsible, which was on the ground for nearly five miles, was given an EF2 rating.
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The Louisiana Department of Health said the woman’s death in St. Charles was the third tied to the spate of storms. Two people died south of Shreveport, La., on Tuesday when a tornado struck the town of Keithville, damaging or destroying about two to three dozen homes, according to local officials.
The victims in Keithville were a 30-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son, local media reported.
Another damaging tornado on Tuesday hit the town of Farmerville, just to the northeast of Shreveport, injuring 14 people. It was rated an EF3.
“This has been a very difficult couple of days for our state,” Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said in a video posted to his Facebook page. “I am amazed that we didn’t have more loss of life in Louisiana than we had.”
Wednesday’s swarm of damaging tornadoes began with a storm that tracked through New Iberia, La., about 20 miles southeast of Lafayette. It damaged several homes and trapped several people, according to the police department. Three people were taken to hospitals.
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Tornado damage was also reported Wednesday in southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia.
The large and powerful storm that spawned the tornadoes Tuesday and Wednesday originated in California over the weekend and is lumbering across the Lower 48 states.
It has also generated blizzard conditions in the northern Rockies, northern Plains and parts of the Upper Midwest, and was producing ice and snow across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Thursday. The wintry weather was expected to continue into Friday.
The National Weather Service received over 30 reports of tornadoes in southern Louisiana and Mississippi on Wednesday, adding to another 30-plus reports it received in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday.
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