OAKDALE — A series of strong storms that moved across Southwest Louisiana on Wednesday night and early Thursday generated at least one tornado in Allen Parish, according to the National Weather Service.
Weather service metrologist Roger Erickson confirmed that an EF2 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 115 mph touched down in Oakdale at 8:11 p.m. Wednesday, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and damaging buildings.
The weather service uses the Enhanced Fujita Scale to classify tornadoes based on wind speed and the amount of damage caused. The tornado traveled 3.6 miles and was 100 yards wide at its maximum, Erickson said.
The most wind damage appeared to be on the north side of town, where a large section of the metal roof on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building near the federal prison was blown away.
ICE spokesman Tom Byrd said no one was injured. The office remained closed Friday as officials continued to clean up and assess the damage.
Parts of the metal roof at the Country Inn Motel on U.S. 165 South were also torn off, as was the metal roof of several storage units on Talambas Drive, just off U.S. 165 North.
“I heard a lot of tearing noise and whipping wind,” motel guest Ann Marie Hurley of Princeton, Mass., said Thursday. “I really didn’t know what was happening. We don’t have this in Massachusetts, so I didn’t know if it was a tornado or just bad wind.”
Hurley and her husband are cycling from Georgia to California and had stopped at the motel for the night seeking shelter. “We rode 70 miles to get to a motel knowing a storm was coming and then this,” she said, shaking her head.
Hurley said she grabbed her flashlight, got her ID and some money and sat “really quiet” as the lights went out and the storms passed.
The winds damaged a gas station canopy at a nearby Wal-Mart and blew down numerous trees — damaging homes and businesses, blocking streets and pulling down utility lines.
No injuries were reported said Mayor Gene Paul.
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