NEW ORLEANS — The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for most of Louisiana late Tuesday, and said a cold front moving into the state from the west will bring strong thunderstorms through the following day.
Cars pass along a flooded Lewisville Road Tuesday afternoon after Mother Nature swept through north Louisiana with a flurry of storms. Forecasters say 2 to 4 inches of rain was dumped across the state as a cold front pushed a warm front out of the area. No major damage was reported in Minden, but was in other parts of the state. Bruce Franklin/Press-Herald
The Weather Service said on its website that tornadoes with damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph were possible.
In Bossier Parish, a whole block of homes was damaged in the town of Haughton when several trees were uprooted by high winds.
Late Tuesday morning, Glenn Dowden was sitting in his favorite recliner in the den of his home, and his young son Ben was lying in bed, home sick from school, when Dowden says he heard a noise and told his son to go into the hallway.
Seconds later, five trees in the backyard came down, two of which slammed into the house, crashing through his roof right on top of the recliner he was sitting in moments before.
“The roof is all completely caved in,” Dowden told KTBS-TV. “You can’t even see my dining room table in there. … Another tree hit it and took off all the wires to my house.”
No one was hurt, and Dowden said his home is insured. A couple of his family members and co-workers helped clean up debris.
“Something told me to get up about 2 o’clock in the morning and pray to make sure my kids were safe this week and this happens,” Dowden said. “So I am a firm believer in prayer. Prayer helps everything out.”
All of the state remains under a flash flood watch: Rainfall of 2 to 4 inches with locally higher amounts is possible through Wednesday morning. Forecasters said rainfall could exceed 2 inches per hour at times.
The weather Tuesday caused several northeastern Louisiana school districts to close and events to be canceled. Law enforcement agencies reported trees and limbs down across area roadways. No major damage has been reported, however.