Destroyed homes, illuminated by fire engine lights, are seen after a tornado struck the area in Arabi, La., Tuesday, March 22, 2022. A tornado tore through parts of New Orleans and its suburbs Tuesday night, ripping down power lines and scattering debris in a part of the city that had been heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina 17 years ago.
Gerald Herbert / AP
The tornado that ripped through a New Orleans suburb lifted one house into the air and dropped it onto the middle of a street with a family inside.
Neighbors said the parents of a girl climbed out of the wreckage screaming frantically for help. Their daughter was on a breathing machine, and now was stuck inside.
Chuck Heirsch told The Times-Picayune / New Orleans Advocate that he called 911 as he saw his neighbor on Prosperity Street trying to reach his daughter.
“They were screaming. His wife was hysterical. They were already traumatized from taking that ‘Wizard of Oz’ ride,” Heirsch said.
“All the men in the neighborhood ran to the house. The mother, they brought her to me. I just held her,” Nerissa Ledet told the newspaper. “I tried to console her. I said, ‘You know they’re going to get her out.’”
Firefighters quickly arrived and carried her out in a blanket. St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis described the rescue, saying she’s in a hospital and “doing fine.”