One twister killed one person and caused heavy damage in the Arabi neighborhood in St. Bernard Parish just outside New Orleans on Tuesday night, Parish President Guy McInnis told CNN. Seven other people were treated for minor injuries, he said.
Some houses collapsed; others were pulled from their foundations and left in streets. Roofs were ripped off others, and vehicles were overturned.
Streets and yards were littered with wood, metal and downed power lines. An overturned school bus ended up 100 yards from where it had been parked.
“It’s about a 2-mile stretch (of damage). … We have stretches of streets where there are no homes now, McInnis told CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday.
Given the damage, “it was a miracle” that more people weren’t killed or hurt, McInnis said.
The tornado that hit Arabi touched down in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and the New Orleans East community just before 8 p.m. Tuesday, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.
About 50 structures had some damage in New Orleans East, but no injuries or significant damage were reported in the city, officials said Wednesday afternoon.
“We’ve been through this, it seems, like a gazillion times, but we are good at it, and we’re going to get started this morning,” McInnis said.
Officials believe emergency workers have searched every affected home in St. Bernard Parish, McInnis said.
Family ducked under a mattress as tornado passed
Arabi resident Damarys Olea said she, her husband and children — ages 6 and 8 — covered themselves with a mattress in a bathroom of their house as the tornado roared through the area.
Her house was largely spared, though all the windows were blown out. Downed power lines were draped across her cars, her house and her yard.
Olea felt pressure in her ears as the tornado approached, and at one point felt like she had blacked out, she said.
“We felt the pressure, and it was scary. It was like being in a movie,” Olea said. “The wind, the pressure, the noise, the house shaking … it just felt like a train was going by.”
Also in Arabi, Christine Wiecek said she and her husband Rob Patchus consider themselves lucky to have ridden out the tornado in their home.
Their carport, fence and gutters sustained significant damage, and projectiles punched relatively small holes in their roof, Wiecek said. One of their cars has a smashed windshield, but both vehicles still can run.
“When the watch turned to a warning, I shut off the stove, we grabbed the cats, and went into an interior bathroom, the one room without windows,” she said. “Within two minutes, the storm was passing over us. It was really loud, the house shook, and we couldn’t stop the poor, startled cats from running around like crazy in the tiny space.”
“I was sitting on the floor with my back against the door, and could feel wind coming under the door, even though the doors and windows were closed,” she said.
The neighborhood was closed to traffic Wednesday morning,…