Violent storms, floods, tornadoes leave 5 dead in South
Doyle RiceViolent storms unleashed floods and tornadoes across Texas and Louisiana Wednesday and early Thursday, leaving at least five people dead.
Two people were killed early Thursday in Ruston, in north-central Louisiana, after a tornado ripped through the town and Louisiana Tech University campus around 2:30 a.m. local time.
"I've never seen it this bad in my 43 years. It's tragic, and it's going to be a while before we can get all this cleaned up," Lincoln Parish Sheriff Mike Stone said.
Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker confirmed the two fatalities but declined to identify them.
"It's bad; real bad," Walker said. "We took a direct hit."
National Weather Service hydrologist C. S. Ross says it appears the tornado cut a track over 130 miles from eastern Texas to the Louisiana-Arkansas border.
The same cluster of thunderstorms produced flooding and severe weather in Texas on Wednesday, the Weather Channel reported.
About 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth, a woman and two children were killed when the family's car was caught in rushing flood waters, authorities said. The incident happened at about 6 a.m. in what's usually a small creek just outside Dublin.
The Weather Channel said the threat of severe weather, including possible large hail and tornadoes, will continue to move into the Southeast on Thursday.
The greatest threat for severe weather will shift eastward across southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi and into part of western Alabama, AccuWeather said.
Thursday's opening of the New Orleans Jazz Fest has been delayed because of the storms, the event organizers said.
Contributing: The Associated Press; The News-Star (Monroe, La.)
