Residents in the St. Landry village of Palmetto are rummaging through the damage from an EF3 tornado that ravaged at least 25 homes early Saturday morning and claimed one life. Parish President Jessie Bellard says the tornado touched down on Bolden Road just off Highway 359.
“The path of the tornado was 8.4 miles long and the width of the tornado was 200 yards wide, it was a pretty massive storm.”
The National Weather Service says debris could be seen 15-thousand feet in the air. Seven people were transported to the hospital where two remain, one with back and neck injuries, the other with a collapsed lung.
Bellard is encouraging those who received damage to report it to Damage.LA.Gov so the state can assess the damage and possibly receive funding.
“If you do it on your phone you can upload pictures and that’s a big thing the state can look at to help us with the assessments.”
Bellard says he’s encouraged by the outpouring of support from residents of nearby towns assisting with clean-up and providing food for victims. As for tornado damage, he says it’s worst he’s ever seen.
“I’ve witnessed others that might have struck a few homes here and there but not like this, this thing right here took things in its path and just destroyed them completely.”
The St. Landry Foundation is also collecting funds to assist with transporting the body of the one fatality from the storm back to his home in Mexico so he can be buried.
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