BATON ROUGE – The National Weather Service says it was at least an EF 3 tornado with winds of at least 135 miles per hour that caused significant damage in Arabi in St. Bernard Parish. So far only one storm-related death has been reported and St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis says it could have been much worse.
“All of the local stations had this tornado, we knew it was coming, we knew when it was going to hit and the path it was taking and it was amazing and I think that’s what saved lives,” said McInnis.
There are many in the town of Arabi who suffered significant damage. Resident Tony Vitale says his home was demolished.
“It ripped my roof off, it ripped the ceiling out, fans, a lot of pressure, basically everything was getting vacuumed out of the house,” said Vitale.
Vitale says thankfully he, his wife, and his nine-year-old son were not injured as the twister ripped his home to pieces. He says the only place they could take shelter was on the floor next to a wall.
“I laid her on top of him and I laid on top of her and held on to all of them up and stayed up against the wall, if I would have got to the middle of the house, it would have been worse because that’s the part that is gone” said Vitale.
Vitale says all of the homes on his block were destroyed.
“I got out, my mother-in-law lives next door made sure she got out, then went across the street and got my neighbor out because his house folded on top of him and then my other neighbor was in a two-by-two closet and that’s the only thing left of his house, the rest of his whole house is gone,” said Vitale.
Vitale says this is the third time he’ll have to rebuild his home. He says he’s done it a couple of times before, including after Hurricane Katrina. But he’s grateful that his wife and his son are still alive.
The one person who died has been identified as 25-year-old Connor Lambert. A graduate of Chalmette High School, a former football player for the Owls.
Comments