One of the two tornadoes that swirled across the New Orleans region had peak winds of 160 mph and traveled more than 11 miles into three parishes, a report from National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed Thursday.
The EF3 tornado, which is categorized as a “strong” twister reaching winds between 136 to 165 mph, first touched down in Jefferson Parish near Terrytown at 7:21 p.m. The storm then moved into the West Bank of New Orleans, where it caused its first signs of damage, mostly minor, to trees, roofs, fences and buildings’ sidings.
It then crossed the Mississippi River before striking St. Bernard Parish and Arabi, where the most significant damage was reported. The report said this is also the point at which the twister’s winds picked up to 160 mph.
Here is the latest track map on the EF-3 Arabi Tornado on March 22nd. There still may be more refinements to this track as we analyze more data.
— NWS New Orleans (@NWSNewOrleans) March 24, 2022
More details can be found in our public information statement here: https://t.co/SCdV4Ay0sv#LAwx #tornado pic.twitter.com/QqMV0zj4A9
The tornado was described as “very narrow” and “intense” and even lifted a house from its foundation, destroying all of the home’s walls and roof. The resident of the lifted home, 25-year-old Connor Lambert, was killed and is the one casualty from the tornado.
A second house was moved about 50 yards, another home was lifted from its foundation and most residences in a four-block area sustained minor to substantial damage to roofs and walls.
Electrical towers were also damaged before the tornado moved to New Orleans East, leaving tens of thousands of people in the dark in St. Bernard, Orleans and Jefferson parishes into Wednesday. The largest concentration of power outages on Thursday was still in St. Bernard, in the area of the tornado’s most significant damage, with more than 1,700 Entergy customers without power.
In Orleans Parish, the tornado caused the most damage in New Orleans East, mostly consisting of minor tree, roof and siding damage. The report said the tornado finally lifted at Joe W. Brown Memorial Park, traveling a total of 11.5 miles.
Thursday's report estimates that at least two people were injured from the EF3 tornado. Gov. John Bel Edwards, however, said eight people were injured during a press conference on Wednesday in St. Bernard Parish. New Orleans officials said yesterday that there were no reports of deaths or injuries.
The second tornado to hit the New Orleans area only traveled in St. Tammany Parish near Lacombe on Tuesday at 7:25 p.m. It reached peak winds of 90 mph, making it an EF1 tornado,
The report said this tornado traveled an even greater distance of 12.2 miles and uprooted or snapped trees, caused minor roof damage and destroyed a shed.
