Storms batter the South, leaving one dead in Mississippi

By Kevin McGill and Gerald Herbert | Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — Severe storms blamed for a death in Mississippi generated tornado-force winds that demolished buildings in a south Louisiana town Wednesday while flooding streets in low-lying New ORLEANS. -Orléans with hours of constant rain that clogged traffic and strained the city’s antiquated drainage system.

Severe weather extended across much of the Gulf South, with reports of damage stretching from Texas to the Florida Panhandle.

A suspected tornado struck Slidell, Louisiana, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of New Orleans, Wednesday morning, ripping roofs off buildings and partially collapsing others. Authorities said first responders had to rescue people trapped in a badly damaged building.

Police video showed tree branches littering streets and flooded yards that resembled Louisiana swamps. Outside a McDonald’s restaurant, a car was on its side, utility poles were leaning toward the ground and large pieces of the restaurant’s signature golden arches were strewn about.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported in Slidell. Christopher Bannan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said investigators were studying damage and data to officially determine the cause of the damage, but that it was likely a tornado that moved from Louisiana into Mississippi. .

“I’ve never talked to God so much in my life,” Robin Marquez said after huddling with colleagues in a two-story building that was heavily damaged.

Nearly 8 inches of rain fell in parts of New Orleans. This happened as the system of pipes and pumps that drains the city faced problems with its power generation system, forcing workers to divert electricity from one area to another as needed .

“During intense rains, the mission sometimes shifts from keeping streets dry to draining them as quickly as possible,” the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, which manages the system, said Wednesday afternoon.

In Mississippi, the death of Shirley Wilson, 64, was attributed to the storm. Wilson suffered from several health conditions that required him to have access to an electric oxygen machine at all times, Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee said. When his home in central Mississippi County lost power, his oxygen machine stopped. Emergency responders were only able to reach her about 20 minutes after her grandson called 911 early Wednesday, and she was pronounced dead.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said 72 homes were damaged.

In Texas, several people were rescued from their homes and vehicles early Wednesday morning when flooding inundated parts of Jasper County near the Louisiana border, authorities said.

All major roads leading into Kirbyville, a Jasper County town of about 2,000 people, were closed early Wednesday due to flooding, the sheriff’s office said. Shelters were set up after about 50 people were displaced from their homes, said Billy Ted Smith, Jasper County emergency management coordinator. He estimated those people came from about 20 flooded homes and said about a half-dozen people were rescued from vehicles. He said no serious injuries had been reported so far.

In the Houston suburb of Katy, severe thunderstorms that passed through the area around 2 a.m. Wednesday collapsed part of the roof of a Firestone repair shop. The storms also damaged businesses and cars at a nearby shopping center, sending a large air conditioning unit that was on the roof crashing into the parking lot, officials said.

No one was inside the repair shop, but at a nearby sports bar, employees were in the back cleaning and restocking after the business closed for the night when storms hit, a Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen told reporters later Wednesday morning.