NEW ORLEANS — A tornado warning that threatened parts of the Northshore appeared to leave residents and towns mostly unscathed Wednesday morning.
The warning began around 6 a.m. and included parts of Washington, Tangipahoa (St. Helena, Pike, Amite) and St. Tammany parishes as a strong thunderstorm creating wind rotation passed through the area.
A warning is more severe than a watch, and those in the affected areas were encouraged to seek shelter and stay away from windows.
While there was a significant potential for downed trees, home damage and outages in the wake of the storm, only a few incidents were reported Wednesday morning and appeared to be isolated.
About 140 power outages were reported in Tangipahoa Parish, but no others were visible on Cleco or Entergy's online maps.
Tangipahoa Parish President Bobby Miller told WWL-TV he had news of a downed tree on Simmons Road in Kentwood but otherwise was optimistic about the turnout.
"“It was jet black when the sun should have been coming out,” Miller said. "It looked rough but was looking a lot better an hour later."
Miller said the parish still planned to open their free COVID-19 testing site from 8 a.m. to noon at the SELU University Center at 800 W. University Avenue.
The National Weather Service will assess the storm over the next 48 hours and determine if a tornado formed.
The entirety of Southeast Louisiana is under a risk of severe weather Wednesday as a system sitting over Texas sends storms our way.
Some of the storms could be strong to possibly severe. SPC has placed all of SE Louisiana in a Marginal Risk (Level 1 of 5) for severe weather. The main threat would be strong winds, but we could see a tornado or two.
Heavy rain is likely and we could pick up 1-2"+ again today. Watch out for possible street flooding! The rain will keep high temperatures only in the mid 80s. Tonight will stay mostly cloudy and we will have scattered showers and storms. Lows will be in the 70s.
Have storm photos and want to help us cover the news?
First, only venture out to take photos and videos if it's safe. Shoot them with your phone horizontally.
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You can also text us photos to 504-529-4444, but be sure to include the location and anything else we need to know.
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