ST. BERNARD PARISH, La. — During a private vigil Tuesday, friends and family remembered the life of 25-year-old Conner Lambert.
The vigil marks one week since his death, when an EF-3 tornado ripped through his Arabi community, where many homes are destroyed. Others are damaged, with no roof, like Ronnie Herbert’s.
“It’s a mess man. It really is,” Herbert said. “When I seen the damage to this neighborhood it was unreal. It really was unreal.”
Herbert, his 65-year-old wife, and 91-year-old mother-in-law were in his house when the tornado hit. None of them were hurt.
“You ever hear that old saying it sounds like a freight train? Well, that’s exactly true. When I heard that I knew what it was,” Herbert said. “I just rolled off the bed and onto the floor and held on to the sofa bed for dear life.”
Tuesday, Herbert and his brother were back at the house, trying to salvage whatever possible before more severe weather moves through Wednesday.
“A lot of stuff, once it gets wet, it ain’t going to be no good,” Herbert said.
Across the street, Wayne Scardino is thankful he and his girlfriend survived.
“We were sitting right here in this area. She was sitting in the loveseat,” Scardino said, standing inside what was his living room. “Electricity went off and that’s when all hell broke loose. That’s when it all happened. The windows blew out. The roof blew off. I don’t remember too much after that.”
After being told they had to leave the shelter they were staying in, Scardino was back at his house Tuesday.
“I just set up my tent right here so I can have a place to sleep,” said Scardino pointing to a tent behind his house.
That’s the same tent he used when homeless for nine months before moving into this home two months ago. Now, he’s homeless again.
“[I’ve] got to do what I’ve got to do you know,” Scardino said.
Scardino says he worried about what’s going to happen when the severe weather comes through Wednesday.
“I’d rather go through a hurricane than a tornado to tell you the truth,” he said. “I’d rather go through a hurricane.”
Parish leaders are working with folks who have housing needs. Parish work crews are trying to get debris cleared from drainage areas before that storm system moves though.
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