BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is scheduled to tour storm damage across the southern part of the state on Thursday.
The governor is scheduled to make stops in Iberia, St. Charles, and Jefferson parishes. Edwards is expected to fly over the affected areas and meet with local officials to get updates on damage assessments and recovery needs.
The details of the governor's tour are as follows:
- 11 a.m. Iberia Parish EOC
- 1:15 p.m. St. Charles Parish EOC
- 2:30 p.m. Jefferson Parish EOC
A storm system that spawned dozens of reported tornadoes from east Texas to the Florida Panhandle was all but done with the South on Thursday after killing at least three people and uprooting families across Louisiana, where some homes were blown into pieces.
The National Weather Service can take days to confirm whether destructive winds were in fact tornadoes, but the impact was clear in places like Caddo Parish, Louisiana, where a man went out for groceries and returned to discover his mobile home was gone, and with it, his wife and son.
Possible twisters also pummeled parts of New Orleans and its neighboring parishes. A woman was found dead and eight people were hospitalized with injuries in St. Charles Parish after a suspected tornado struck the community of Killona along the Mississippi River.
“She was outside the residence, so we don’t know exactly what happened,” St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne said of the woman killed. “There was debris everywhere. She could have been struck. We don’t know for sure. But this was a horrific and a very violent tornado.”
Other possible twisters struck Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes — including areas badly damaged by a March tornado. St. Bernard Sheriff Jimmy Pohlman said the latest tornado damage covered a roughly 2-mile stretch. Parish President Guy McInnis said the damage was less than in the March tornado though numerous roofs were blown away or damaged.
New Orleans emergency director Collin Arnold said business and residences in the city suffered significant wind damage, largely on the river's west bank. One home collapsed, injuring four people. “The last word we had is that they were stable,” Arnold said.
Five others were injured in New Iberia, Louisiana, where a possible twister smashed the windows of Iberia Medical Center, the hospital said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.