GRETNA, La. (WGNO) — After a series of tornadoes blew through Louisiana this week, Governor John Bel Edwards visited the of the Bayou State assessing storm damage.
On Thursday morning, the governor visited Iberia Parish where at least two tornadoes were confirmed. Edwards then headed to St. Charles Parish for more storm assessment and then to Gretna on the Westbank of Jefferson Parish.
Edwards called the scene in St. Charles heartbreaking stating that residents were still recovering from Hurricane Ida.
“The strongest part of the storm went through St. Charles and really damaged the community. They were just putting that back together when the tornado went through there,” said Edwards.
Images: Gretna tornado damage
During the briefing, Governor Edwards mentioned the fatalities caused by the storms with two of them happening Tuesday night as well as Wednesday afternoon.
“Very sadly, we have lost three individuals. A 30-year-old mother and her 8-year-old son in Caddo Parish and a 56-year-old lady in St. Charles to the immediate impact of the storm. A number of people remain in the hospitals some with significant injuries and others who are stable,” said Gov. Edwards.
A state declaration for disaster was signed Wednesday making state resources including personnel equipment and funding available for response and recovery.
Governor Edwards says he does not believe the state will qualify for assistance from the federal government.
” As of right now we don’t believe there will be a federal disaster declaration,” said Edwards. “In fact we are quiet certain no individual assistance will be available and we are going too go through all of the property damage assessments to see whether there’s enough public infrastructure that has been damaged where we can meet that monetary threshold to get some help from the federal government. But we don’t believe we will meet that either.”
See the video: Tornado strikes Arabi, La. for second time in 2022
Edwards gave his warnings cautioning residents not to sight see in areas of distruction and to practice safety when using a generator.
Anyone that suffered damage to their homes is encouraged to report it to damage.la.gov and although it is not an application for assistance but for officials to assess the severity of damage.
Watch the press conference live in the player above.
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