“My house is gone”: residents tell the horror they experienced with the tornadoes that devastated the New Orleans area

Tornadoes left miles of devastation across the South 1:24 (CNN) — After a tornado ripped through Arabi, Louisiana on Tuesday with 135 mph winds, the walls and roof of Angel Hahn’s home were gone. Once the wind died down, he took the phone from him. “I called my mom and said, ‘My house is gone,'” he recounted to CNN affiliate WDSU. “She replied, ‘Mine doesn’t either.'” “I’m still in shock,” his mother, Monica Hazen, told the station as she stood outside her nearby home. “I’m just trying to take it all in.” This mother and daughter are among residents affected by the storm that hit the New Orleans area, who are still assessing the damage and reflecting on their struggle to get to safety when two tornadoes tore through the region. As a consequence, at least one person died and the devastation is incalculable. Residents assess damage to homes in Arabi, Louisiana, Wednesday after the tornadoes. (Credit: Bryan Tarnowski/Bloomberg) The powerful tornado caused significant damage in Arabi, said St. Bernard District President Guy McInnis. Some homes were “torn off their foundations and left lying on the ground,” he added. Eight people are hospitalized for storm-related injuries, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said during a news conference Wednesday.The National Weather Service has given the tornado a preliminary rating of EF-3.Video shows the massive tornado that left devastation in New Orleans 2:30 Another Arabi resident, Damarys Olea, said she and her family — including her husband and two children, ages 6 and 8 — used a mattress to cover themselves as they sought shelter in a bathroom in their home when tornado hit them. Windows in their home were blown out and power lines fell onto cars and the yard. Although the house itself was mostly saved, he said. Olea said when the tornado rcaba, she felt pressure in her ears. “We felt the pressure and it was terrifying. It was like being in a movie,” Olea said. “The wind, the pressure, the noise, the house shaking… it felt like a train was going by,” she added. Another tornado touched down Tuesday night in the Lacombe area of ​​the St. Tammany district, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, the National Weather Service said. No injuries were immediately reported at Lacombe. However, the tornado downed dozens of trees, destroyed a shed and left minor roof damage, according to the agency. An overturned vehicle amid destroyed homes in Arabi, Louisiana. (Credit: Bryan Tarnowski/Bloomberg That tornado was on the ground for 12 miles and had a maximum width of 300 feet, with preliminary estimated maximum winds of 90 mph. Making it an EF- 1, according to the Weather Service. In New Orleans, about 50 structures suffered some type of damage from the tornado. But none were significant and no injuries were reported in the city, officials said. A system will bring rain to the East Coast after Tornadoes in New Orleans The storm system that hit the New Orleans area on Tuesday also spawned more than 30 tornadoes in Texas on Monday, and still has the potential for severe conditions Thursday as it moves up the East Coast. the most dangerous threats are likely to have passed “A few strong/severe storms are possible through noon over portions of the Mid-Atlantic region, spreading south along the Atlantic coast and throughout the afternoon over portions of north/eastern Florida,” the Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center warned. More than 17 million people are at marginal risk (level 1 of 5) from severe weather stretching from Tampa, Florida, to southern Delaware, according to an alert issued by the storm center. Widespread rainfall totals in the region on Thursday are forecast to range from 1 to 2 inches, with isolated pockets of 2 to 4 inches. Central Florida is under threat of excessive rain this Thursday “due to round after round of storms producing heavy rain,” said CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford. The system has already caused record rainfall in parts of the south. In Louisiana, Shreveport broke the 1871 daily record of 3 inches of rain when it recorded 9.6 inches. Several daily rainfall records were also broken in Alabama. Birmingham broke its maximum rainfall of 4.8 centimeters, in 1908, when it accumulated 5.8 centimeters; Tuscaloosa had 3.5 inches, beating its previous record of 1.0 inches, in 2012. Monticello, meanwhile, was 3.3 inches, beating the 1968 record of 2.7 inches. Jackson, Mississippi, had 4, 2 centimeters of rain, breaking the 1953 record of 4.1 centimeters. CNN’s Jason Hanna, Derek Van Dam, Robert Shackelford, Alisha Ebrahimji, Jamiel Lynch, Christina Maxouris, Kelly McCleary, Steve Almasy, Devon Sayers, Monica Garrett, Gregory Lemos and Tina Burnside contributed to this report.