SLIDELL, La. – A powerful tornado wreaked havoc just outside of New Orleans this week, causing widespread damage to buildings, homes and vehicles in the area and leaving many residents traumatized.
Among those affected was Slidell, Louisiana, police officer Rodney West, who had a terrifying experience as he tried to ride out the tornado in his patrol car.
“When I rode through the tornado itself, all I could do was slow down,” West told FOX Weather Friday. “There was nowhere to go really except inch straight (forward) and wait for something to impact my car because I know there was a lot of debris flying around.”
West had never experienced a tornado like this before, despite being through nearly every hurricane in the area for the past 30 years, including Katrina.
“This was just such power that was in such a concentrated area that it was overwhelming,” he told FOX Weather. “My visibility in my car, while my car was shaking and everything, was absolute zero.”
West’s description of the scene moments after the tornado passed was reminiscent of a car bomb explosion, with shattered windows and debris littering the streets.
“It was just total devastation … just catastrophic loss of property,” he said.
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: TORNADO TAKES OUT PART OF LOUISIANA BAR MOMENTS AFTER PATRONS RUN FOR COVER
Slidell police released footage from West’s body camera, which recorded the chaos after the storm.
After ensuring that everyone was accounted for in a severely damaged building, West noticed a woman in a car on the side of the road. The woman reported being in the middle of the intersection when the tornado struck but assured West that she was unharmed.
“Then I ran over to the McDonald’s … where there’s a car on its side,” West recounted in a video on social media, still looking shell-shocked. “And there was a lady trapped inside of the car.”
VIDEOS SHOW SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE FROM TEXAS TO LOUISIANA AFTER TORNADOES, FLASH FLOODING SLAM SOUTH
The body camera video shows West making multiple attempts to contact the woman.
“Are you OK? Are you OK? We’ve got somebody coming to help you!” West is heard on the video contacting the woman trapped inside. It’s difficult to hear through the window and storm, but she lets him know she is trapped but not seriously injured.
“Just hold tight!” he told her. “Just sit tight.”
Firefighters arrived a short time later and were able to break out the windshield and get the woman to safety.
After ensuring the woman was alright, West inspected another building that had sustained significant damage to see if anyone else was trapped inside. Fortunately, everyone in that building was also safe and unharmed.
West said the town is now working to clean up all the debris and damage.
“It’s cleaned up a little bit, and we have functioning traffic lights where we didn’t in the last couple days,” he said. “We had a lot of trees that have been removed. However, there is still a lot of damage to people’s personal property as well as businesses. We have more roads open now.”
West added there is still a lot of cleanup to finish.
“There’s so many nails and screws – I just had to have a screw removed from my police car this morning,” he said. “It’s starting to get back to normal. More people have power, but not all people have power.”
In the aftermath, the National Weather Service sent out a storm survey team and upgraded the tornado to an EF-2, with estimated winds of 120 mph over a 9.3-mile path.