Severe weather hits

Crowley residents were awakened Sunday morning, when a strong thunderstorm system passed through the area leaving a path of destruction in it’s wake.
The most severe damage in Crowley was centered near the northeast part of town. Utility poles were knocked over, possibly by a small tornado, and one even fell atop the roof covering the gas pumps at Chevron.
“I left for Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. and when I got on top of the bridge (over Interstate 10), I couldn’t see anything...they had golf ball-sized hail coming down,” said Blaine Kibodeaux. “I didn’t want my car to get any hail damage so I pulled over by the gas tanks at Chevron.
“I have a Dodge Charger ... that’s how I know it was a tornado because I was sliding all around the parking lot. The wind had to be blowing 100 mph.
“One man who was in an 18-wheeler came up with a shocked look. He said his driver side door was sucked off right off the side of his vehicle ... unbelievable. (The hail) was bouncing off the street about a foot off the ground.”
Crowley Mayor Greg Jones pointed out that a much larger tragedy had been averted.
“If that live wire hits those gas tanks we’re on national news,” he said. “I’m just thankful that there were no major injuries or fatalities.”
On Monday, there were still cleanup crews around Crowley – especially in the Hockaday Heights area – and some repairmen working on wires that had tree branches laying across them.
Though some parts of Crowley experienced some flooding, it appeared as though the eastern area of the parish experienced the most water damage. Several homes in the Scott and Duson area had water visibly 2 feet outside their homes.
Amazingly, that was the second time Kibodeaux ran into an, as of now, unconfirmed tornado at nearly the same spot.
“Yeah, that other time it lifted my truck off the ground a little bit,” he said. “We’re starting to call this area ‘Tornado Alley’.”
First responders obviously had their hands full.
“My officers were swarmed with numerous type of issues from fallen trees and power lines to alarms going off all over town,” said Crowley Chief of Police K.P. Gibson. “They handled everything very professionally and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Among other developments:
• Louisiana Highway 91, near the Pontoon Bridge, in Estherwood was closed due to high water. It is undetermined when it will be reopened.
- Wal-Mart was closed Sunday sending many of their customers to other stores such as Winn Dixie which had employees rushing to save their frozen food section while the power was out. According to one employee, “We were hustling all day Sunday.”
• There was a car accident just east of Rayne early Sunday afternoon which slowed I-10 west traffic.
• The entire Acadiana area remained under a flash flood watch until 7 p.m. Monday.