Storms that rolled through Louisiana Saturday (Jan. 21) dropped five tornadoes across the state within the span of a few hours, leaving uprooted trees, crumpled homes, toppled power lines and several injured people in their wakes. The tornadoes formed amid thunderstorms Saturday that pummeled the Southeast, with the system ultimately killing 18 people in Georgia and Mississippi.
Of the five tornadoes, the National Weather Service said two were strong category F-2 twisters, one of which blew winds that reached 125 mph just outside the town of Natchez and Point Place, near Natchitoches. The other F-2 tornado bore a 990-yard width and ranged over 8 miles outside Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish before finally dissipating.
Three people were injured during the tornadoes, including a Plain Dealing resident who was hit in the head with a piece of lumber and knocked unconscious. Saturday’s storms spared serious injury or loss of life for Louisiana residents, the weather service said in a report released just after 11 p.m. Sunday.
The roughest tornado appeared to form in Plain Dealing, where the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office said 29 homes or “recreational vehicles” where people live were damaged or outright destroyed, including two mobile homes that had been bowled over.
In a video posted to Facebook, Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington said it was “a miracle” no one was injured worse, given the tornado bowled over two mobile homes both with people inside at the time. Those people had “barely a scratch,” Davis said.
“The good news is no one was seriously injured or killed, by the grace of God,” Whittington said. “So we’re very thankful for that today. These people lost everything they own, but property can be replaced.”
In Natchez and Point Place, south of Natchitoches, an F-2 tornado gusting 125-mph peak winds caused severe damage to five homes and several outbuildings lying along the banks of the Cane River. One man injured his arm while braving the twister from inside his home, the weather service said.
Elsewhere in the state, F-1 tornadoes roamed near Colfax and Georgetown in Grant Parish, and through Jena in LaSalle Parish. Each of those slightly weaker tornadoes — which all nonetheless clocked in max winds at 100 mph or stronger — toppled trees, power lines, homes and heavy equipment, including a 3,000-pound trailer that was flipped over blocking Highway 71 near Colfax. One woman was injured outside Colfax when her mobile home rolled.
The first tornado dropped down in Plain Dealing at 5:12 p.m. Saturday, with the following four tornadoes forming one after the other until the last cleared out of Jena at 8:30 p.m. Each left a line of destruction within only a matter of minutes: the longest, outside Colfax, lasted just 13 minutes.
Strong storms on Saturday and Sunday killed several people across Georgia and Mississippi, including four killed by a tornado that touched down early Saturday in Hattiesburg, Miss.
In all, 18 people have so far been reportedly killed by storms that tore through the Southeast on Saturday and Sunday, along with scores of injuries and flattened homes. Seven people were killed when a tornado destroyed a mobile home park in rural Cook County, Ga.
Though spared damage from weekend storms, the New Orleans area was kept under a tornado watch from Friday night to Saturday night, as a line of thunderstorms rolled through the state and into Mississippi. Portions of West Feliciana and Pointe Coupee parishes were put under a tornado warning briefly Friday night.
A gale warning was issued by the weather service Sunday afternoon for parishes in southeastern Louisiana, lasting through Sunday night.
By Beau Evans, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
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on January 23, 2017 at 12:00 AM, updated January 23, 2017 at 12:12 AM
Here, deputy’s dash-cam footage shows an F-2 tornado on its path near Plain Dealing, La., on Saturday, January 21, 2017. Five tornadoes formed Saturday in Louisiana amid thunderstorms that pummeled the Southeast, killing 18 people in Georgia and Mississippi. (Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office)
