Tornado Rips Through Southern Louisiana Over Weekend

Stormy weather and a tornado hit southern Louisiana over the weekend, resulting in 1 dead and 12 injured, according to local media reports.
Tornado Rips Through Southern Louisiana Over Weekend
3/6/2011
Updated:
3/6/2011
Stormy weather and a tornado hit southern Louisiana over the weekend, resulting in 1 dead and 12 injured, according to local media reports.

As of Sunday, the National Weather Service maintained a hazardous weather outlook for areas of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi as the weather system continued to move through the region.

A Red Cross shelter in Rayne, La., which was hardest hit, was sheltering at least 30 individuals, according to the organization’s website. Rayne is about 150 miles northeast of New Orleans. According to local media reports, the state’s governor, Bobby Jindal, paid the area a visit on Sunday to survey the damage.

The areas near Baton Rouge and New Orleans were also hit by the storm, on the eve of Mardi Gras, which is this week.

New Orleans residents in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes were affected, according to the Red Cross.

The National Weather Service is predicting that “strong to severe” thunderstorms could move through the area on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.