Girl survives tornado that lifted house, dropped it onto street

The tornado that ripped through the New Orleans suburb of Arabi lifted one house into the air and dropped it onto the middle of a street with a family of three inside.

Neighbors said the parents of a girl climbed out of the wreckage screaming frantically for help. Their daughter was on a breathing machine, and now was stuck inside.

Chuck Heirsch told The Times-Picayune / New Orleans Advocate that he called 911 as he saw his neighbor on Prosperity Street trying to reach his daughter.

“They were screaming. His wife was hysterical. They were already traumatized from taking that ‘Wizard of Oz’ ride,” Heirsch said.

“All the men in the neighborhood ran to the house. The mother, they brought her to me. I just held her,” Nerissa Ledet told the newspaper. “I tried to console her. I said, ‘You know they’re going to get her out.’”

Firefighters quickly arrived and carried her out in a blanket. St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis described the rescue, saying she’s in a hospital and “doing fine.”