By Stephen Hemelt
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — A matter of minutes was the difference between property damage and the potential threat of serious bodily injury, according to company officials at Edward Jones.

The financial-services office located at 299 Belle Terre Blvd. in LaPlace was the chief victim of a short but intense storm that blew through LaPlace at approximately 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Winds, which National Weather Service meteorologists estimate reached 60 mph, ripped around the business office, collapsing a brick wall onto an adjacent parking lot.

Michael Hanley, a financial adviser at the Edward Jones office located at 406 Belle Terre Blvd., said the damage occurred just after 5 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after employees had left for the day.

“We’re all just very thankful it wasn’t at 4:45 p.m.,” he said. “People would have very likely been injured. People park on that side of the building. Somebody would have been getting in their car, and the bricks would have hurt them bad. It’s just physical property (damage), and nobody is too bent out of shape over that.”

Hanley said his office is hosting the staff from 299 Belle Terre Blvd., adding Robert Hymel Jr., who runs the damaged office, was up and going again by 8 a.m. Thursday.

“We’re more than happy to host them out of our office until their office is repaired,” Hanley said.

Near-by residents reported a path of damage through the neighborhoods from the Edward Jones building leading toward Walmart.

Entergy crew members worked through the night Wednesday to restore power to thousands that were forced into the dark.

Street light on Airline Highway were spun completely around because of wind damage, and their were numerous reports of downed trees and overturned lawn items.

Meteorologist Robert Ricks said the damage came from a lone, isolated thunderstorm that developed along the lake breeze.

“It’s the Manchac convergence zone,” he said. “The winds lined up with that little bit of land where I-55 is, coming from the north. The flow was in such a way that you could get an isolated thunderstorm that popped up right over LaPlace. Because of the nature of the air mass it was under, it was conducive for a downburst.”

Ricks said the downburst produced winds upwards of 60 mph, higher than the typical wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph.

“It happens quite frequently but not to that magnitude around here,” he said. “Because it was an isolated (downburst), the first one of the day basically, it had a lot more energy to work with. The air mass was conducive to higher potential.”