At least three people have died and multiple people have been injured after tornadoes touched down in Louisiana on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, a tornado passed through the New Orleans area, killing one and leaving over 42,000 without power in the New Orleans area, according to utility company Entergy.
A 56-year-old woman was found dead outside of her house in St. Charles Parish and eight people were taken to St. Charles hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Parish president Matthew Jewell said. The Louisiana Department of Health earlier on Wednesday confirmed that two people, a 30-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son, had been killed in Caddo Parish after a tornado touched down in the area Tuesday.
Jewell said that tens of homes were damaged by the tornado, the second in just two weeks that touched the parish.
The tornado also touched down in Arabi, causing “major damage” to St. Bernard Parish. Officials asked that people avoid the area as authorities assess the damage.
“Parish officials have confirmed a tornado touched down in Arabi causing major damage,” St. Bernard Parish tweeted. “Firefighters and police are assessing the damage. Please stay out of the area until further notice. Thank you,”
According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, several homes and businesses suffered “catastrophic damage” and at least one of the sheriff’s office’s facilities suffered “severe damage,” but there were no reported injuries at the facilities, authorities said.
“We share everyone’s concern for those in the areas affected by this afternoon’s tornado,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “We are working with the Fire Department and Parish government to assess the damaged areas and conduct search and rescue operations. We are asking that everyone remain inside and off the roadways for their safety and the safety of the first responders in the area.”
Earlier in the day, at least two tornadoes tore through New Iberia, Louisiana, causing “significant damage” to the Southport Boulevard subdivision and the Iberia Medical Center, New Iberia Police Capt. Leland Laseter said in a Facebook video post.
“We do have significant damage in the Southport Boulevard subdivision off Admiral Doyle and also on the other side of town near the Iberia Medical Center,” Laseter said. “The hospital has sustained a significant amount of damage as well.”
Laseter said there have been no reported fatalities and injured residents are being treated at local hospitals.
An Iberia Medical Center spokesperson confirmed that the hospital was treating five people with “very minor injuries” in the emergency room and that a tornado damaged part of the medical center’s main campus, medical office building as well as some ancillary buildings and structures.
Laseter said a secondary rescue search has been conducted in the Southport Boulevard area and everyone has been rescued from that area. A temporary shelter has been set up at New Iberia Senior High School for displaced residents.
The National Weather Service has not yet posted a survey of damage on the ground.
On Tuesday, a tornado in the Pecan Farms area of Keithville, in Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana, south of Shreveport, killed a mother and her young son. The woman was found a block from their home, which was destroyed, and the boy was found in a nearby wooded area.
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