Early Morning Tornado Touched Down in New Orleans, Caused Damage

 Published: May 12, 2021

A tornado ripped through the New Orleans metro area early Wednesday morning, downing trees, damaging structures and knocking out power to thousands.

A tornado warning was issued for New Orleans by the National Weather Service (NWS) at 2:08 a.m. CDT as a line of storms barreled toward the city.

Radar of the storms as they moved into New Orleans during the 2 a.m. CDT hour of Wednesday morning.

Storm reports from the NWS show damage to trees and power poles very near the downtown area of New Orleans. Carrollton, Broadmoor and Algiers Point are the portions of the city where much of the damage occurred, according to reports from city officials to the Associated Press.

An NWS damage survey Wednesday afternoon concluded an EF0 tornado was responsible for the damage, with maximum winds estimated at 85 mph.

Entergy New Orleans reported that just over 10,000 customers had lost electricity in its service area as of 4 a.m. CDT.

A wind gust to 62 mph was clocked in the storms at a heliport in downtown New Orleans.

Below is a collection of social media photos showing some of the impacts in the areas that were hit.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.