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Neville
Alexander, 3, and Francine Gotch, 38, were inside the mobile
home in the town of Breaux Bridge, just outside Lafayette,
Louisiana, when the storm slammed into the dwelling, causing
"significant damage," the St. Martin Sheriff's Office said on
its Facebook page.
Video posted on the page showed the remnants of a mobile home
with its walls and roof collapsed and furniture and other
household belongings upended and scattered. Nearby houses and
vehicles appeared unscathed.
The National Weather Service (NWS) later confirmed the
demolished trailer was upended by a tornado packing winds of
around 100 miles per hour (161 kph) and ranked as a category
EF-1 on the five-point Enhanced Fujita Scale. An EF-5 is the
highest rating.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the Weather Service had
issued a "high risk" advisory for central and northern
Louisiana, warning residents to be vigilant of the threat of
severe weather.
Other parts of Louisiana were under "moderate and enhanced"
alerts for severe weather, he said, adding, "This is a statewide
weather event."
In addition to tornado threats, thunderstorms were bringing
hurricane-force, straight-line winds and large hail to the
region, the governor said.
Television station WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, the state capital,
reported more than 4,500 lightning strikes across the state by
late afternoon.
Edwards called for members of the public to remain indoors and
avoid unnecessary travel, while urging mobile homes residents to
stay with friends or relatives in more solid structures
overnight if possible.
The NWS posted tornado watches for a portion of eastern Texas
and most of the two neighboring Gulf states of Louisiana and
Mississippi. A flash-flood warning was in effect for a large
swath of east Texas and Louisiana.
Tornado sightings were reported in central Texas and
north-central Louisiana, while high winds were snapping trees
and causing other damage, the NWS reported.
The brunt of the storm system, also a concern for southern
Arkansas, was expected to track eastward into Mississippi after
dark, and possibly into Alabama on Monday morning.
The warnings come after severe weather killed at least 21 people
in the South earlier this year, many in mobile homes demolished
by tornadoes in Georgia and Mississippi.
(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida, and Steve Gorman
in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by McGurty in New York;
Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Sandra Maler)
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