By Baptist Message staff
Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief crews spent the weekend assessing damage and clearing debris from properties that were impacted by a strong line of storms that came through the state.
Gibbie McMillan, Louisiana Baptists state disaster relief coordinator, told the Baptist Message that crews from Wilda Baptist Church, Boyce, and Big Cane Baptist Church, Morrow, removed a tree that fell on a home in Bayou Jack.
DR members Reggie Saxton and Tom Rabalais also assessed homes in Palmetto, which was heavily damaged by an EF-3 tornado packing 140 mph winds.
The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down on Bolden Road in St. Landry Parish at 2:06 am Saturday. The tornado destroyed several homes, including a single wide mobile home that rolled for more than 320 yards and caused the death of a man inside the residence. St. Landry Parish Police Jury President Jessie Bellard confirmed the fatality as Jose Antonio Higareda, 27.
The National Weather Service also reported that seven other people in the area were injured, 15 homes were damaged, numerous trees and power lines were snapped and some barns and outbuildings were destroyed.
Further north, Jerry Smith, 48, died after a tree snapped and fell onto his mobile home in Blanchard late Friday, KTAL-TV reported. Caddo Parish Sheriff deputies, who responded to the scene around 6:30 p.m., said a neighbor heard the tree fall and went to investigate for himself.
