COVINGTON, LA — When we first arrived in the Tallow Creek neighborhood of Covington, we peered over a fence and saw a mangled trampoline in one family’s backyard. We told the Webbers that we were sorry to see what happened to their trampoline.
“It’s not ours,” one family member responded.
The trampoline was from another neighbor’s home and was among the variety of items scattered around the neighborhood as a storm moved through the area at about 4:30 Thursday morning. Neighbors were certain it was a tornado, but there was no official word from National Weather Service which had planned to survey damage in Saint Tammany Parish on Friday.
The parish says approximately 35 homes were damaged in the Tallow Creek subdivision, most of them on two streets, Arian Lane and Cole Court. A couple of hours after the storm passed, parish workers said that there were about 10,000 power outages across Saint Tammany. Later in the morning, the number of outages had been reduced to 2,000.
Parish workers say that they’re working with faith-based groups to help distribute tarps in the Tallow Creek subdivision to neighbors who have roof damage on their homes. Other damage includes broken windows and downed trees and fences.
Most of the morning on Thursday, Saint Tammany Parish sheriff’s deputies and Goodbee firefighters remained in the neighborhood to make sure there were no injuries and to help neighbors begin the cleanup and repair work.