Six tornadoes hit southern Louisiana destroying homes

Six tornadoes tore through New Orleans and other parts of southern Louisiana destroying homes, leveling trees and pulling down power lines.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said that one twister carved out a swathe of destruction about two miles long and half a mile wide affecting an area of 5,000 properties.

"It's devastating and a lot of families have lost everything that they have," he said.

Grandmother Artie Chaney's home in eastern New Orleans was destroyed by one of the twisters.

"We looked up in the air, we could see the debris in the distance," she said. And before we knew it, it was just barreling down on us."

"We ran down the hallway and to the middle bedroom and then we just heard glass shattering, doors, we thought we were not going to make it, to tell you the truth," she added.

Her granddaughter Kimberly Chaney captured mobile phone footage of the moment the tornado bore down on her street.

  • Video courtesy of Kimberly Chaney

Another homeowner's property and car were completely devastated by the twister but he escaped without injury.

"I've got me some cold beer," he said while standing in the debris of his home. "I might as well drink one of them."

Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency throughout Louisiana, while search and rescue teams scoured the landscape for survivors.

He estimated the number of injured at 20, some of them he termed "not life-threatening, but very serious."

"The width of the devastation was unlike any that I have seen before," Edwards told a news conference.

"When you see it from the air you're even more impressed that so few people were injured and that nobody's life was lost."

Despite the devastation, there were few injuries. Credit: AP

Nearly 7,800 customers were without power in the New Orleans area by early Wednesday, according to Entergy New Orleans Inc.

US President Donald Trump said that his "thoughts and prayers" were with everyone affected by the tornadoes.

The storm system battered New Orleans and suburban Baton Rouge which was the fourth time in a year the state has been hit by natural disasters.

Residents comfort each other amid the devastation. Credit: AP

A string of tornadoes struck in February 2016 and four people died in widespread floods in March.

Louisiana was then devastated by major flooding in August, when more than 60,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in 20 parishes, or territorial districts, marking the state's worst disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.