St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell said that there was one fatality and several injured after a tornado touched down in the community of Killona on Wednesday afternoon.
“Tornado touched down at about 2:21 today (local time). everything happened really quickly,” he said.
Jewell said that residents were alerted via emergency siren and text message alert system after it was confirmed that it was a “touch-down tornado.”
“There is one confirmed fatality. 7 or 8 injuries at this time,” he said at a news conference
He added that approximately 475 residents are without power.
Sheriff Greg Champagne said the person killed by the tornado was a woman. He added that eight other people have non-life-threatening injuries.
The identity of the person who was killed was not immediately released, and the sheriff said he do not know the circumstances of her death.
Champagne said the tornado was violent.
“There’s a piece of debris on the levee behind you that came from our firing range, 1.7 miles away,” he told reporters at the news conference.
“For the second time in two weeks, we’ve had a tornado touch down in St. Charles Parish,” Champagne said. “This one created quite a bit of devastation.”
Champagne said St. Charles Parish is reeling from repeated battles with the weather.
“This community got hit really hard during Ida,” he said, adding, “They didn’t need this again. I heard some residents saying they just can’t catch a break.”
