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Ruston, West Monroe National Guardsmen respond to tornado

Posted at 4:28 PM, Apr 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-25 17:28:44-04

By Staff Sgt. Garrett L. Dipuma, Louisiana National Guard Public Affairs Office

A Louisiana National Guardsman with the 527th Engineer Battalion stacks water after tornados touched down in Ruston, Louisiana, April 25, 2019. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Taylor)

At the request of Gov. John Bel Edwards, the Louisiana National Guard is conducting debris removal missions and moving Meals Ready to Eat (MRE’s), bottled water and other supplies into the areas affected by severe weather and in the aftermath of tornados that touched down in Ruston, April 25.

The LANG activated approximately 25 local Guardsmen with the 527th Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade, which has units in Ruston and West Monroe, to aid in the cleanup of their community and is prepared to bring more Soldiers on as needed. The unit is equipped with chainsaws, dump trucks and front end loaders.

 Louisiana National Guardsmen with the 527th Engineer Battalion, headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana, clean debris after tornados touched down in their community, April 25, 2019. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Daniel McWilliams)

“One of the unique attributes of the National Guard is that our members come from the same communities that we serve and protect,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, adjutant general of the LANG. “These missions are always close to home for us.”

In addition to assisting in cleanup, the LANG is distributing bottled water and MREs to citizens who need them at the North Louisiana Exhibition Center located at 165 Fairgrounds Rd., Ruston, LA 71270.

“That’s our job and that’s why we do this,” said Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Doss. “Being able to help our own community after a disaster is a privilege.”

Louisiana’s Guardsmen are trained, ready and equipped to stand up at any moment to protect lives and property, maintain communications and ensure the continuity of operations and government.

—-More from the Associated Press is below—-

(AP) – A tornado killed two people as it tore through the northern Louisiana city of Ruston early Thursday, sending trees into houses, ripping roofs off buildings and causing a local public university to cancel classes, officials said.

“Devastation is the way it looks,” said Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker after flying over the city in a helicopter to assess the damage. “The number of houses with trees completely through them was incredible.”

The tornado was part of a thunderstorm that left a trail of damage from eastern Texas into northern Louisiana but Ruston – a city of about 24,000 people – appeared to get the worst of it.

A mother and son were killed when a tree fell on their home in Ruston overnight, officials said. Their names have not been released. Those were the only deaths reported in Louisiana during the storm, but rescue workers were still combing the area, said Mike Steele, communications director for the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Walker said that immediately after the tornado swept through Ruston, about three-quarters of the area was without power. Restoration was ongoing, but he said by the end of the day they expect about 25% to 30% of the town will be without power.

The tornado was part of a severe weather system that pounded Texas with rain Wednesday, killing a woman and two children caught in a flash flood, before moving into Mississippi Thursday.

National Weather Service hydrologist C. S. Ross said the tornado hit Ruston at 1:50 a.m. It was part of a line of “continuous damage” that stretched about 150 miles (241 kilometers) from Texas into Louisiana, he said. Officials would be using satellite data to determine whether it was a single tornado that ripped through the entire area, although Ross said that does not appear likely.

The National Weather Service said on Twitter that the tornado that hit Ruston was an EF3, meaning it had winds of at least 136 mph (219 kph). They said an EF1 tornado hit near Mooringsport, Louisiana, while an EF2 tornado hit near San Augustine, Texas.

At Louisiana Tech University, classes were canceled Thursday and Friday, the university said. The university said no students were reported injured, but trees and power lines were down in several places on campus. They also warned worried parents trying to reach their children that it might be hard to reach students because of the high volume of calls.

The university’s sports facilities got hit the hardest, officials said.

“Our softball and our soccer facilities are completely demolished. Our baseball facility is severely damaged,” said Malcolm Butler, the university’s associate athletics director. “We’re still assessing how bad it is. All three of those facilities will probably have to be rebuilt to some extent if not totally.”

A large section of the concrete covering that protects the baseball grandstands was ripped off and pieces found lying in the main street that cuts through campus, Butler said.

The university’s president, Les Guice, asked people to stay off the roads unless necessary.

“We are still assessing damage to campus due to the tornado. Power lines are down and a lot of debris is as well creating safety hazards,” he said on Twitter. He said the core academic buildings were in “good shape” although trees were down around campus.

The four-year university has about 12,000 students, and many people in the town of Ruston work at the university.

The university planned to reopen Monday, said spokeswoman Tonya Oaks Smith.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards traveled to Ruston to assess the damage; he said on Twitter that state police and the Louisiana National Guard were assisting local responders.

Elsewhere in Louisiana, sheriff’s departments and emergency offices in Lincoln, Union and Morehouse parishes reported blocked roads and downed power lines.

Gregg Gossler, director of the Union Parish emergency preparedness office, said about 35 homes and businesses were damaged and numerous power lines were down.

He said the parish’s poultry operations appeared to be hard hit. As many as 16 chicken houses, each with as many as 20,000 birds, were reported damaged, he said.