NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The aftermath of Tropical Storm Arthur unleashed a torrent of rain and fierce winds across the southeastern United States on Thursday, wreaking havoc on buildings, inundating residences, and prompting water rescues along the Gulf Coast.
Meanwhile, severe weather conditions also struck the Midwest, where another series of intense storms toppled structures and left tens of thousands of people without electricity.
Arthur, marking the first tropical storm of the Atlantic season, swiftly weakened after its formation but still left behind hazardous weather in Louisiana and Mississippi. In a rural area of Louisiana, over 2 feet of rain drenched the region within a 48-hour period, with the majority falling on Thursday, as reported by Donald Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.
In Avoyelles Parish, located roughly 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Baton Rouge, the deluge affected at least 200 homes, confirmed Louisiana state Representative Daryl Deshotel.
“This level of rainfall is catastrophic, even for a region accustomed to such weather,” Jones commented.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a social media post Thursday night that a worker on a county road crew in the southwestern part of the state had been killed while helping with storm cleanup operations. The cause of the death was not disclosed.
Thirty homes below the Anchor Lake dam in southern Mississippi were being evacuated as a precaution due to concerns that rising waters could overwhelm the spillways and compromise the structure, Reeves said. Residents in the area were being encouraged to seek higher ground.
Coni Dubois said several inches of water flooded her home overnight in Houma, southwest of New Orleans, but others in the community had worse damage. She’s lived through many hurricanes and other storms, but never witnessed thunder and lightning like this.
“It was unbelievable, it literally sounded like hell broke open,” Dubois said. “I thought for sure we had a tornado on top of us. The lightning and the thunder was so consistent, the whole house was lit up like daylight for about 20 minutes.”
The National Guard and state wildlife officials were working with rescue crews, officials said.
One tornado had been confirmed in Avoyelles Parish in central Louisiana, along with three others near New Orleans, the weather service said.
Louisana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency for some storm-hit areas, and the town of Cottonport in Avoyelles Parish said it was turning off water service overnight “to manage our resources and allow our system to recover.” It urged residents to limit water use and to fill pots and other containers before the water was shut off.
Amid relentless rainfall in central Louisiana, Cody Coco said he rescued stranded workers — waist deep in water —- at a cypress sawmill operation he runs near his home in Avoyelles Parish. He said the water has continued to rise all throughout the day.
Coco, 40, said he also used a boat to rescue the four pigs he kept in a pen. Video he shared on his Facebook page shows the hogs swimming out of their enclosure in a torrent of murky water. Coco says they are now safe on higher ground.
“If I’d left them in the pen, they’d have drowned,” Coco said. “They were happy to see me.”
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno posted a video on Facebook describing relatively minor damage and cleanup efforts. Ahead of the storm, police prepared boats and set up barricades in flood-prone areas. They also opened sandbag distribution sites across Louisiana.
Just across the Mississippi River in Avondale, a tornado wrecked four homes, Jefferson Parish spokeswoman Rachel Strassel said. Two people were hospitalized with minor injuries and later released.
The Midwest was also dealing with damage after a strong line of storms.
A tornado was reported Wednesday evening near Effingham, Illinois, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Springfield. Several people suffered minor injuries, officials said.
Firefighters responded to damaged homes, collapsed structures, car crashes, downed power lines, gas leaks and blocked roads, Effingham Fire Chief Brant Yochum said.
Marla Washburn and her husband, Todd, hunkered down in their basement as a suspected tornado tore through their neighborhood about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north in Blue Mound. They could hear debris smacking into their house and a school across the street lost its roof, which came crashing onto their home.
“The whole house shook,” Washburn said in a phone interview, adding that the neighborhood looks like Armageddon.
“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but we’re OK,” she said. “You look at it and you go, ‘I don’t even know where to start to clean up.’”