Toranado, March 06: Severe weather and tornadoes have hit southern Louisiana overnight, leaving one young mother dead, several people injured and dozens of homes and businesses destroyed.
The most intense storm system passed through Acadia Parish around 10am local time, KPLC-TV said.
One suspected tornado created a path of destruction about an eighth of a mile wide in northwestern Rayne, a small city located about 70 miles (112 km) west-southwest of Baton Rouge.
The storm is feared to have destroyed as many as 50 homes and a dozen businesses, The Daily Advertiser said.
Eleven people with minor injuries – including abrasions and shortness of breath – and one person with unspecified serious injuries were treated at an emergency triage station before being dispatched to local hospitals, Troy Guidry, Acadian Ambulance’s director of operations, told the paper.
The severe storm also ruptured two gas lines in Rayne, prompting evacuations in the northwestern part of the city where there was reported to be a heavy smell of gas in the air.
“This damage is pretty significant,” Rayne Fire Department Chief Barry Granger told the Advertiser. “As long as I can remember this is probably the worst tornado to hit the city.”
Acadia Parish Sheriff’s authorities said several power lines were damaged and officers were beginning a house-to-house search in Rayne to check on residents, according to KPLC-TV.
There were a few more reports of tornadoes touching down in other parts of Acadia, according to the Rayne-Acadian Tribune.
The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado hit Crowley, about seven miles west of Rayne. The twister was about 22 metes wide and created a path of damage five kilometres long.
Three injuries were confirmed in association with the Crowley tornado, which also collapsed a car wash building and caused damage to a waffle house and several residential rooftops, the weather service said.
——–Agencies