The strong line of storms that swept through southeast Louisiana on Thursday night tore off a roof, snapped power poles, and picked up and smashed a travel trailer in a cane field in St. James Parish, as local and federal weather officials investigated on Friday whether a tornado cut through the northeast corner of the parish.
Parish officials raised the possibility of a tornado after finding high-wind damage to homes and trees in the Romeville area, including one home that lost its roof.
"We have houses that received damage, but it's in a very sparsely populated area," said Eric Deroche, parish homeland security director.
Rob Frye, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Slidell, said survey crews had been sent the Romeville area but didn't expect an answer until later Friday evening.
Kevin Gilmore, a meteorologist with the same weather office, added officials had seen unconfirmed radar indications Thursday night for what might have been a tornado in the area.
The small community of Romeville is just north of Convent along River Road. Deroche said the suspected tornado damage is around Romeville Park and Pleasant Hill and Hargis streets.
He added that the parish also appeared to have possible straight-line wind damage on Ester and Central Crossing streets a little farther upriver of Romeville and closer to Whitehall.
Suspected straight-line winds tore the roof off this home on Ester Street in northeastern St. James Parish near Whitehall on Thursday night, as seen through parish government drone footage taken Friday, May 17, 2024. Parish officials suspect a tornado passed a few miles to the south of this home in Romeville.
He estimated at least 35 to 40 homes in all had roof damage significant enough to spark requests for tarps from parish officials.
"But there's probably more ... that didn't request a tarp — there is some type of damage but doesn't need a tarp to put on a roof," Deroche said.
Parish officials said in a Facebook post Friday that no injuries or fatalities have been reported. In the storm aftermath, officials set up a cooling center in nearby Convent to help residents without power or with home damage.
This home in St. James Parish received wind damage Thursday, May 16, 2024, when a powerful storm front passed through southeast Louisiana. Parish officials suspect a tornado may have hit the Romeville area, but the storm also produced straight line winds.
National Weather Service reports recorded the peak gust in the region at 84 mph at New Orleans Lakefront Airport around 11:30 p.m. Thursday.
But parish officials said they have received reports outside the National Weather Service network that include a 105- to 108-mph gust at the Zen-Noh Grain elevator along the Mississippi River in the Convent area just north of where the suspected tornado hit. Another report from a tugboat on the river that recorded a gust of 150 mph, though officials weren't sure of its precision.
In addition to the survey crew that visited in Romeville, St. James officials have also submitted drone videos and other images of the storm damage for the Weather Service to examine, officials said.
Some of those images show a smashed home in the Whitehall area, a travel trailer apparently picked up and dumped by the winds and then broken open in a cane field, and a string of snapped power lines in a field.
High winds from a storm that passed through Thursday night apparently picked and dumped this travel trailer in a cane field in St. James Parish, as seen through parish government drone footage taken Friday, May 17, 2024.
In general, southeast Louisiana saw peak winds of 50 to 70 mph with some isolated 80 mph winds, Gilmore said.
In St. James, peak wind readings generally downriver of Romeville hovered between 45 and 55 mph: Vacherie at 47 mph, Gramercy at 54 mph and Paulina at 47 mph, according to National Weather Service readings.
A fence in St. James Parish was knocked down following high winds Thursday, May 16, 2024, when a powerful storm front passed through southeast Louisiana. Parish officials suspect a tornado may have hit the Romeville area, but the storm also produced straight line winds.
St. James received a little more than an inch of rain, parish officials said. In other areas across southeast Louisiana, rainfall totals ranged from 1.5 to 3.5 inches Thursday and overnight Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Entergy was doing power restoration in St. James Friday.
Parish crews began making damage assessments at daylight and, by mid-afternoon Friday, Deroche said he didn't expect the damage would be enough to trigger a federal disaster declaration. But he said the information would help in lining up nonprofit assistance with residents in need.
High winds from a powerful storm front snapped these power poles in St. James Parish Thursday night, as seen in parish government drone footage taken Friday, May 17, 2024.
The cooling center was opened at the Convent Community Center across River Road from the parish courthouse and was expected to close at 5 p.m. Friday, the parish official said.
Editor's note: This story was updated around 4:11 p.m. Friday, May 17, 2024, to add information about the ground survey crews in Romeville and the new wind information.