Tornado outbreak destroys homes, causes injuries in Louisiana

An outbreak of severe weather spawned several damaging tornadoes across the Deep South on Tuesday.

A state of emergency was declared in Louisiana by Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday afternoon after severe storms moved through the Ascension, Livingston, Orleans, St. James, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes.

At least 20 people have been injured as a result of the storms, but no fatalities have been reported, according to the Associated Press.

Emergency management officials reported that two homes were destroyed near the town of Killian, Louisiana, located about 45 miles east of Baton Rouge. Two other homes were heavily damaged. Elsewhere in Louisiana, tornadoes have been reported near Ponchatoula, Donaldsonville and New Orleans.

EF3 damage was confirmed in eastern New Orleans by the National Weather Service on Wednesday as survey crews continued to assess the hardest hit areas.

Tornado damage was also reported at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, located east of New Orleans. This is the facility where NASA is constructing the core stage of their upcoming Space Launch System rocket.

Entergy Louisiana reported that more than 17,000 customers were without power across the state during Tuesday afternoon. The majority of outages were located around the New Orleans area. By early Wednesday morning, only about 8,000 customers were still affected.

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