NEW ORLEANS – Powerful thunderstorms were lighting up radar monitors and prompting multiple tornado warnings from Louisiana to Alabama as severe storms brought hail, high winds and possible twisters to the New Orleans area.
Radar indicated a large tornado near the city's Lakefront Airport, and another large tornado was reported near Madisonville in St. Tammany Parish, north of Lake Pontchartrain, the National Weather Service said.
In nearby Livingston Parish, sheriff's office spokeswoman Lori Steele said officials were investigating wind damage reported in the town of Killian on Tuesday morning. Officials were working to confirm two possible tornado sightings in the area
One of the warnings described a "large, extremely dangerous and potentially deadly" twister south of Hammond, Louisiana.
The national Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said 2.7 million people in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama would be at the highest risk of severe weather on Tuesday. In Louisiana, tornado watches covered New Orleans and Baton Rouge. In Mississippi, a tornado watch covered the southern half of the state. In Alabama, the city of Mobile was in the storm's path.
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Associated Press contributors include Jeff Martin in Atlanta.
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