Heavy overnight rainfall causes damage in St. John Parish

Published 9:10 am Wednesday, May 28, 2014

LAPLACE — Severe weather, including heavy rainfall and damaging winds, impacted several areas of St. John the Baptist Parish overnight and into Wednesday morning.

At approximately 5:30 a.m. this morning, the National Weather Service’s radar indicated a rotation of 115 mph winds moving over Edgard and across the Mississippi River into Garyville. These winds caused downed trees and power outages in Edgard, Wallace, Garyville and Reserve.

As of 10:30 a.m., all power had been restored to parish residents and businesses.

Over the four-hour period between 3 and 7 a.m., the western part of the east bank including Reserve and Garyville received 7 to 8 inches of rain and 2 to 3 inches of rain were reported in Edgard.

The National Weather Service will release an official storm survey this afternoon regarding Enhanced Fujita scales and tornado confirmations.

Sporadic roof damage was also reported across the parish and the bay doors of the Edgard Fire Station were damaged.

St. John Public Works employees cleared trees on the roadway from Joseph and Alexis Streets on the West Bank and South Emile St. in Garyville. All roadways are now passable. Public Works crews are assessing damages parish wide.

Marathon Petroleum confirmed a weather event on their site and is currently assessing damages at their facility; however, there is no off-site impact to St. John Parish residents.

Roadway conditions are improving as drainage pumps work to move water through the drainage systems.

A flash flood watch is in effect through Thursday in St. John Parish and other portions of Southeast Louisiana.