Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said there were 16 injuries and one serious during his tour of Iberia Parish on Thursday after Wednesday’s tornado.

There was also an update on the Iberia Medical Center medical arts building after engineers checked the structure.

“I will tell you we can be very thankful here in Iberia Parish that there was no loss of life,” Edwards said. “We did have a number of individuals, 16 or so, who went to the hospital for treatment and only one required an inpatient stay and hopefully that individual will go home today.

“That has not been the case around the state and so I’m going to ask people to join me in prayer for the families of the three people we know who lost their lives and we have several more who are in the hospital with very significant injuries and we want to pray for them as well,” he added.

Edwards flew in on a U.S. Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk Pilot helicopter and he said you could see where the tornado started outside of Iberia Parish.

“We had the vantage point coming in on the (helicopter) and the first thing we saw coming in from Baton Rouge, we were flying over some cane fields with tremendous debris and you could follow (the path) of the debris right to the medical arts building,” Edwards said. “Tornadoes are so different from hurricanes because the destructive path can only sometimes be a few hundred yards wide, and that’s what it was here. So you end up with a home that has catastrophic damage, and then, right across the street, a home that looks like it had nothing happen. But if that was your home, that storm could not have been any worse.

“If you end up in the hospital or like in other parts of the state, you lost a family member, that storm couldn’t have been any worse. Quite frankly, I am amazed we didn’t have more loss of life in Louisiana and I am thankful for it,” he added.

Video of Gov. Edwards in New Iberia, story continues after the video:

The governor said during his visit to Iberia Parish, he noticed families lost everything right before Christmas.

“I want to especially thank Catholic Charities and the others in the faith communities who are doing so much,” Edwards said. “We’re 10 days before Christmas and we have a lot of people all over the state whose lives are not what they thought they would be at this point and that can be very, very traumatic. In addition to just losing your home or the place that you work is not able to operate, all of that is going on.”

Iberia Medical Center CEO Dionne Viator was able to give an update on the medical office building which caused enough damage to make national news. However, as the Daily Iberian reported through the day Wednesday, the hospital was able to remain open and treat current and new patients. 

“We had a structural engineer come and look at the medical office building and they determined it is structurally sound. We are looking at other issues like fire safety,” Viator said. “The hospital has had some damage, but nothing that has stopped us from being fully open. Radiology labs, surgery, we are fully open.”

The governor thanked Viator for the update and said residents should not be out sightseeing.

“We want to remind people, it’s not a good time to go sightseeing. If you want to see the medical office building, go to the CNN website,” Edwards said. “You can look at it some other way. There is a lot of debris and lines down. We have line crews out that are reconnecting power. Please give your first responders and law enforcement a break, don’t go sightseeing in these areas.”

He also warned about carbon monoxide poisoning.

“We lose more lives to carbon monoxide poisoning after a storm than the direct impact of a storm,” Edwards said. “Temperatures are dropping. We are asking people don’t run generators inside your home and don’t run generators close to your home or near a vent or window. Make sure it’s a well-ventilated area. And never leave your generator while it’s running or it’s still hot, Let it cool down.”

There was not enough damage for federal funding and Edwards wants taxpayers to know the local government and the state will be paying for repairs.

“At this point, we don’t think we will meet the requirements for assistance from the federal government. So we don’t think there will be federal resources available. But we will make help available on the (state) public assistance side,” the governor said. “We don’t have $8.2 billion worth of damage across the state or enough damage in the parish. So this will be on the state and on the local government and I want to make sure people are aware of that.

“I brought my team and state agency leads to Iberia Parish today to be on the ground, hearing from the first responders, the parish president and the mayor of New Iberia and others, particularly related to the hospital and the medical office building which as you know sustained serious damage,” Edwards continued. “We want to figure out what we can do to help and speed up that assistance as much as possible.”

He was also impressed with the residents he met in New Iberia.

“I’d like to thank responders and all of the people who were just neighbors to one another,” Edwards said. “Not all of them have a title, not all of them are public servants, but they saw a neighbor in need and they went and helped. They continue to do that.”

The National Weather Service is not done reporting on the storm as they have four teams out in the state, Edwards said.

“This has been a very difficult couple of days for our state,” Edwards said. “The National Weather Service told us today they are investigating at least 11 tornadoes and possibly confirming more tornadoes than that. It’s spread all over the state. Search and rescue in these conditions is very dangerous. People get trapped in their homes and they may be uninjured, but they are trapped under debris and the weather is not cooperating.”

Edwards credited the alerts on cell phones that tornadoes are coming to reduce injuries and fatalities.

“The alert notifications going out on cell phones are not just ‘hey, the weather is conducive to a storm and be careful,’ they said there is a tornado coming and take shelter immediately and this is what you have to do,” Edwards said. “We know that is saving lives. Unfortunately, in Caddo Parish, it was in a rural area where cell phone coverage was so poor, that warning was not available, and it may or may not have made a difference. But the point I am making is, cell phones are not just for communications but for public safety and we are going to work on having better coverage throughout the state of Louisiana.”

He also talked about the victims of the storm.

“I am heartbroken to learn of the mother and child who were killed in Southwest Caddo Parish due to one of numerous reported tornados,” said Gov. Edwards. “My prayers go out to the family as well as those who were injured or lost their homes. I will be traveling to the Shreveport area and Union Parish today to tour the damage and response efforts. Unfortunately, this severe weather event is not yet out of our state as it now moves into Central and South Louisiana. Please stay weather aware and follow the directions of local officials.”