Fortunately this was not the case her but for those who were in the path it must have felt like it.
Two tornadoes that ripped through the New Orleans region on Wednesday — one through Killona and Montz in St. Charles Parish, and the other cutting a path from Marrero through Gretna, Algiers and Arabi — have been given preliminary ratings of EF-2 by survey teams investigating their damage on Thursday, the Slidell office of the National Weather Service has announced. An EF-2 tornado on the five-category Enhanced Fujita tornado damage scale is considered to be strong, with winds of between 113 and 157 mph. To determine that rating, surveyors look for signs of considerable damage, including roofs torn from frame houses, mobile homes demolished and large trees snapped or uprooted. Final rating and more detailed information will be released later today, forecasters said in brief notes announcing the initial results on Twitter. A survey of possible damage from a “weak” tornado in Harrison County, Miss., is complete, one of the messages said, but surveyors were still investigating the data to determine if that twister was a high-end EF-0, which would have top winds of 72 mph, or a low-end EF-1. That category has winds of between 73 and 112 mph. Both categories are listed as weak. Final rating and more detailed information will be released later today, forecasters said in brief notes announcing the initial results on Twitter. A survey of possible damage from a “weak” tornado in Harrison County, Miss., is complete, one of the messages said, but surveyors were still investigating the data to determine if that twister was a high-end EF-0, which would have top winds of 72 mph, or a low-end EF-1. That category has winds of between 73 and 112 mph. Both categories are listed as weak.
nola.com
There was both death and injury reported.
Allison Alexander, 56, was killed when the tornado destroyed her trailer home in Killona at Schoolhouse Road and Railroad Drive. Eight other people in that area were injured. That twister then crossed the Mississippi River and hit Montz. Four teams of surveyors are reviewing damage from the two tornadoes in the New Orleans area and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They may also look for damage from possible tornado touchdowns in Donaldsonville, Houma and in St. Tammany Parish. The surveying may last into Friday, but individual reports on the two major tornadoes are likely to be completed by Thursday night. The Slidell office of the National Weather Service issued 27 tornado warnings and updates from 11:37 a.m. to 5:42 p.m. on Wednesday. Many of the warnings were triggered by radar indications that a tornado had formed, with some, like the Killona-Montz and Gretna-Arabi storms, confirmed by on-the-ground sightings, including videos, or by radar indications of flying debris.
This is probably the first report and more will in the pipeline.
