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Severe weather hits Baton Rouge; one dead and possible tornado reported

Posted at 2:12 PM, Jun 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-06 15:12:25-04

Severe flooding has claimed one life in Baton Rouge, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced this morning. In addition, a suspected tornado flipped several cars and three buildings collapsed at a condominium complex.

Down the road in Sorrento, a tornado hit an ExxonMobile facility. Here’s the statement from the company:

On the morning of June 6, 2019 a tornado struck an ExxonMobile Pipeline Company facility located in Sorrento, Louisiana. Emergency personnel are responding. We regret to inform that five personnel have been injured as a result. They were immediately transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital. Our focus now is on ensuring the safety of our employees and contract personnel. We are currently working to confirm the status of all site personnel. The Sorrento team is also assessing the site for damage. We will have more information as soon as it becomes available.

At the Baton Rouge news conference, which Broome started with a moment of silence for the unidentified person, she urged citizens to stay home unless they absolutely have to get on the road.

“Please: don’t go down a street that looks like it has high water. I don’t want anybody to risk their lives,” the mayor said.

Baton Rouge Fire Chief Ed Smith said the man who died was in a car trying to travel on Chippewa Street, at a location that often floods during high rain.

“We rescued the individual from the car, we gave him to EMS, EMS transported him but unfortunately he did not make it,” Smith said.

As of noon the victim had not been identified.

Here’s video from WBRZ of firefighters rescuing another person from a submerged car:

The building collapse happened at the Colonial Terrace Condominiums on Wooddale Boulevard, Smith said. About 50 people were displaced, he said.

“There were three buildings involved, two of them worse,” he said.

Crews are onsite now, making sure that the buildings are safe for firefighters to conduct a secondary search, Smith said.

Here’s some aerial footage from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office:

 

Here are some social media posts about the cars:

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