Tornado rips through New Orleans as storms cause widespread damage in U.S. South

Multiple tornadoes have torn through parts of Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma, killing at least one person and causing multiple injuries.

A tornado tore through parts of New Orleans on Tuesday night, spawned by a storm that produced multiple tornadoes through parts of Texas and Oklahoma, killing one person and causing multiple injuries and widespread damage.

The National Weather Service retweeted a video of the tornado in the eastern part of New Orleans that was visible in the darkened sky.

Guy McGinnis, president of St. Bernard Parish, told WWL-TV that the parish had “widespread damage” in parts of the parish that borders New Orleans to the east. Search and rescue teams were going through homes looking for people and responding to at least two calls from people who said they were trapped in their homes in their bathrooms.

“As of right now no major injuries are reported,” McGinnis said. “It’s going to be a long night.”

The tornado appeared to start in a New Orleans suburb and then move east across the Mississippi River into the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans and parts of St. Bernard Parish before moving northeast.

It wasn’t immediately known whether anyone was injured. While the metropolitan region is often struck by severe weather and heavy rains, it’s rare that a tornado moves through the city.

High winds uprooted trees in Ridgeland, Mississippi, as a possible tornado passed the Jackson-area city Tuesday afternoon, but there were no immediate reports of any injuries or serious damage to buildings. Campus police at Mississippi State University, in Starkville, shared a photo of a large hardwood tree lying across a street.