Mother Nature has a vendetta against the Crescent City. A tornado blazed through New Orleans and Jefferson Parish neighborhoods Tuesday at 2:20 a.m. leaving behind a trail of splinters and shards of brick from more than 200 damaged houses. One person died. Many more were injured. The Westwego, Uptown and Lake Pontchartrain areas received damage from the twister that skirted the city after it hopped the Mississippi River, leaving a 50-yard-wide path of destruction, rubble and debris. Is it bad luck? Or it may be chance. It seems lately our Queen of the South never gets a break. The tornado’s damage is another stab at the city’s recovery efforts. But New Orleanians are strong, and some of the city’s residents for the second time in less than two years started to pick up the pieces again scattered at nature’s whim. One of our writers saw the forces of Tuesday’s tornado, which caused immense damage to his family’s Uptown residence. He came back to Baton Rouge, returned to work yesterday and brought his brother and dog to stay with him until better accommodations are found. Will Dunn, sports contributor, is a tough guy like many of the other people affected by the twister. To those whose lives the tornado touched down upon, we regret your hardships, and we hope you find the strength to pick up where nature interrupted. New Orleans is a special place, a place people have fought to preserve. They’ve braved a hurricane. They’ve braved hell. They’ve braved months of waiting patiently. They can rise up again like a phoenix from the ashes. Mayor Ray Nagin said New Orleans residents are strong. We believe him. They have a tough skin. They proved it once, and now they’re proving it again.
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