W-OLF
02-03-2006, 04:51 PM
Twisters Add Insult to New Orleans' Injury
Published: 2/2/06, 9:25 PM EDT
KENNER, La. (AP) - Tornadoes tore through New Orleans neighborhoods Thursday that had been hit hard by Hurricane Katrina just five months earlier, collapsing at least one previously damaged house and battering the airport, authorities said.
Roofs were ripped off, utility poles came down and a radio tower fell near a major thoroughfare, but no serious injuries were reported.
"Don't ever ask the question, `What else could happen?'" said Marcia Paul Leone, a mortgage banker who was surveying the new damage to her Katrina-flooded home.
She would go no farther than the front porch of her house Thursday morning. Windows were blown out, and the building appeared to be leaning.
"I've been in the mortgage business for 20 years. I know when something's unsafe," she said.
Electricity was knocked out for most of the morning at Louis Armstrong International Airport, grounding passenger flights and leaving travelers to wait in a dimly lit terminal powered by generators. The storm also ripped off part of a concourse roof, slammed one jetway into another, and flipped motorized runway luggage carts.
"There's more damage to the terminal than I saw during the hurricane," airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc said.
Wind tore an exhaust vent off another roof and blew it through a concourse window. A metal ladder was wrapped around a light pole, and part of a glass wall fell and crashed onto the tarmac.
Airlines using the damaged concourse were moved temporarily to other gates.
The line of severe thunderstorms moved across the area several hours before dawn. Tim Destri, of the National Weather Service, said it appeared the damage was caused by two tornadoes, one that hit the airport and another that moved into New Orleans.
The storm collapsed at least one house in New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged lakefront, police said.
"I cannot believe this. We were hit twice. It's not bad enough we got 11 feet of water," said Maria Kay Chetta, a city grants manager. While her own home was not badly damaged, one across the street lost its roof and another had heavy damage to its front.
Police spokesman Capt. Juan Quinton, who lived in that area, said that gutters were ripped off his already flood-damaged house and that toppled trees blocked the alley behind his house.
A federal trailer was pulled off its moorings and plumbing hookups, he said.
"It's an act of God and there's nothing we can do about it, so I just don't worry about it anymore," Quinton said.
Reuters.
Man it just doesnt ease up for them.
Published: 2/2/06, 9:25 PM EDT
KENNER, La. (AP) - Tornadoes tore through New Orleans neighborhoods Thursday that had been hit hard by Hurricane Katrina just five months earlier, collapsing at least one previously damaged house and battering the airport, authorities said.
Roofs were ripped off, utility poles came down and a radio tower fell near a major thoroughfare, but no serious injuries were reported.
"Don't ever ask the question, `What else could happen?'" said Marcia Paul Leone, a mortgage banker who was surveying the new damage to her Katrina-flooded home.
She would go no farther than the front porch of her house Thursday morning. Windows were blown out, and the building appeared to be leaning.
"I've been in the mortgage business for 20 years. I know when something's unsafe," she said.
Electricity was knocked out for most of the morning at Louis Armstrong International Airport, grounding passenger flights and leaving travelers to wait in a dimly lit terminal powered by generators. The storm also ripped off part of a concourse roof, slammed one jetway into another, and flipped motorized runway luggage carts.
"There's more damage to the terminal than I saw during the hurricane," airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc said.
Wind tore an exhaust vent off another roof and blew it through a concourse window. A metal ladder was wrapped around a light pole, and part of a glass wall fell and crashed onto the tarmac.
Airlines using the damaged concourse were moved temporarily to other gates.
The line of severe thunderstorms moved across the area several hours before dawn. Tim Destri, of the National Weather Service, said it appeared the damage was caused by two tornadoes, one that hit the airport and another that moved into New Orleans.
The storm collapsed at least one house in New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged lakefront, police said.
"I cannot believe this. We were hit twice. It's not bad enough we got 11 feet of water," said Maria Kay Chetta, a city grants manager. While her own home was not badly damaged, one across the street lost its roof and another had heavy damage to its front.
Police spokesman Capt. Juan Quinton, who lived in that area, said that gutters were ripped off his already flood-damaged house and that toppled trees blocked the alley behind his house.
A federal trailer was pulled off its moorings and plumbing hookups, he said.
"It's an act of God and there's nothing we can do about it, so I just don't worry about it anymore," Quinton said.
Reuters.
Man it just doesnt ease up for them.