At least six confirmed tornadoes struck Louisiana and Mississippi on February 7th, injuring residents and causing millions of dollars in property damage. According to the National Weather Service, the New Orleans Parish and Livingston Parish experienced an EF-3 level tornado, with winds reaching 150 miles per hour and 10.1 miles in Orleans. A total of 36 injuries were reported in these affected areas.

  The area hit the hardest, East New Orleans in the Orleans Parish, resulted in complete destruction of many of its residents’ roofs and foundation. The neighborhood was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and some of the rebuilt homes were destroyed again after the tornado on Tuesday.  New Orleans resident, Yoshekia Brown, had her home destroyed by Katrina, and twelve years later, her roof collapsed as a result of the tornado winds. Manas Jinka (11) said, “It is unfortunate that the Katrina victims were just starting to get back to normal life and then another disaster struck them. However, it is hard to try to prevent these natural disasters, so I hope that the government of Louisiana will step in and help.”

 Governor John Bel Edwards has declared Louisiana in a state of emergency, and will travel to the affected areas to survey the damage done.

  Louisiana has appealed to President Trump for federal aid, citing the 1.1 million dollars needed to cleanup New Orleans East alone.  Congressman Cedric Richmond of New Orleans appealed to the federal government, and said, “There are hard-working American people whose homes and lives have been destroyed through no fault of their own.  We need the president to declare this emergency so that they can get the support they deserve.” Trump has yet to comment.