Tornado causes damage in Slidell, Louisiana
(10 Apr 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4487993
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Slidell, Louisiana - 10 April 2024
1. Wide of damaged apartment building
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Kaufmann, St. Tammany Parish Fire Chief:
"We had a tornado come through this area today. This is one of the most devastated areas in our district. We had to evacuate more than 50 people from this structure, no fatalities, a couple of injuries but just amazing that we got through this this area, how bad the damage is and no severely injured people."
3. Various of damage, emergency vehicle passes by
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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Robin Marquez, Slidell Resident:
"I never talked to God so much before in my life. Lights flickering back and forth, dark really quickly. It was very loud. When they say it sounds like a freight train, it most certainly does."
5. Car window broken out with smashed building behind
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6. SOUNDBITE (English) Robin Marquez, Slidell Resident:
"There was, you know of course a lot of heavy wind coming, rain coming sideways, so you kind of automatically knew before any alerts came out that what we were about to experience."
7. Wide of smashed building
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8. SOUNDBITE (English) Robin Marquez, Slidell Resident:
"When natural disasters happen, you know people need us. So that that's going to be our number one focus is to make sure that everyone else is OK."
9. Various of mangled trees and apartment with roof torn off
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Kaufmann, St. Tammany Parish Fire Chief:
"Do the best you can at home and let us do our job so we can get everything at least cleared and to where everybody can at least get some kind of function back in their lives."
11. Wide of storm damage
STORYLINE:
Strong storms flooded New Orleans streets and demolished buildings in one of the city's suburbs Wednesday, part of a severe weather system that pounded communities across much of the South, killing one in Mississippi.
In Slidell, Louisiana, northeast of New Orleans, multiple people were injured and first responders were scouring neighborhoods after reports of a morning tornado strike.
Robin Marquez was at work, in a two-story building in Slidell when the sky suddenly darkened and she could see a cylindric funnel quickly approaching.
She and seven others huddled in her office, away from windows as wind gusts imitated the sounds of a train above them, the lights flickered and they could feel “the building being torn apart” around them.
“I’ve never talked to God so much before in my life,” the 45-year-old said.
Marquez and the others with her were not injured. When they left their shelter, they saw complete destruction. The roof was gone, the walls caved in and the aluminum siding was ripped off.
AP Video shot by Stephen Smith and Gerald Herbert
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