Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards says a deadly tornado struck early today.
"A tornado in Ruston this morning that has killed two people," he said in Twitter. "Our prayers are with the people of Ruston today."
"Storms are not over in Louisiana for the day," he warned. "Please follow @GOHSEP and monitor your local media for information about the weather and stay safe."
Chief Deputy with the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s office, Stephen Williams, says trees are down, power lines mangled and several businesses are destroyed.
“The I-20 corridor area, the Graham shopping center and all that has extensive damage to it, some of the buildings are basically gone,” said Williams.
Williams at least half of the city is without power.
“There in downtown in Ruston, probably have a mile of power lines that are down on the ground or are gone,” said Williams.
Glenview Elementary has set up a shelter.
National Weather Service forecaster CS Ross says the twister struck Ruston just before two AM.
“Significant damage is reported around Louisiana Tech and throughout Ruston and then the tornado moved on to the northeast towards the Downsville area and rural Union Parish and then moved towards Morehouse Parish and produced damaged as there as well,” said Ross.
Ross says there’s also been reports of damage in the Sabine Parish town of Converse.
The most extensive damage is in Ruston. State Police Troop F spokesperson Michael Reichardt says the clean up effort will take some time.
“I know there were some hotels that were damaged, lots of businesses in towns, lots of homes, there’s lots of power lines down, lots of trees down, it’s widespread damage throughout the city of the Ruston and some of the parish.”
This is the second round of severe weather in Ruston in the past two weeks:
