Two Dead From Louisiana Twisters
Two people were dead after reports of tornadoes touching down during a strong cluster of storms in southern Louisiana, authorities said Thursday.
The twisters, which were reported in eastern Iberia Parish just before 4 p.m., tore off roofs and ripped seven mobile homes from their foundation, Sheriff Sid Hebert said.
"We had five people in one double-wide manufactured home and a mom and daughter perished," Hebert said. "We've had two critical injuries to family members inside that same manufactured house."
At least 15 people were taken to area hospitals, Hebert added.
Three children thought to be missing have been found, accounted for and are fine, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.
The tornado reports came in as a severe band of storms hit the parish, hard and fast.
"In about a 4 to 6 minute of time, we've had what I consider four touchdowns, whether they were tornadoes or microbursts, we're still not sure," Hebert said. "There was substantial damage to homes, manufactured housing, power lines."
"All I seen was the wind, the rain, everything, the wood ... flying all over," resident Connie Leger told CBS affiliate KLFY-TV.
Steven Bruno and his pregnant girlfriend were in their trailer when the tornado lifted the home from it's foundation and flipped it twice.
"We were just lucky to get out, to get out alive," he said.
The storms also flooded roads and Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency in the parishes of Acadia, Allen, Sabine and Vermillion.
In New Orleans, crews were dispatched to clean drains and prepare for possible flooding ahead of a weather system that could drop several inches of rain on an area that has been drenched in the past two weeks.
A flash flood watch was in effect for portions of southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi through Friday morning. The National Weather Service forecast 2 to 4 inches of rain, with locally heavy amounts possible, creating potential flooding.
More than 8 inches of rain has fallen in the Deep South in the past seven days, reports CBS News meteorologist George Cullen.
While stormy weather this time of year isn't unusual, this latest system comes after two storms that helped bring December's rainfall total in New Orleans to more than 10 inches, nearly twice the normal average.
One of the storms, just before Christmas, caused widespread flooding in parts of the city and neighboring Jefferson Parish, and raised concerns about how well the area, hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, would fare in another hurricane.