Tornado kills woman in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Stormy weather in the New Orleans area, including a confirmed tornado, killed one woman, brought down power lines and ripped ships from their moorings.

The woman who died had been at Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center for an outpatient appointment and left even though staff had suggested everyone remain until the weather calmed, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. A witness said she was "sucked into a funnel cloud" in the parking lot and then dropped.

She died in the hospital emergency room.

The Sisnos Sun, a 180-foot freighter, was torn from its mooring at a Mississippi River dock, the Coast Guard said. It struck two other ships as it drifted down the river.

At one fast food restaurant, a Chick-Fil-A near Covington, La., employees became so worried about the weather that they got everyone waiting in the drive-through into the store. The blinds were lowered and everyone waited out the storm after being herded into the center.

"It definitely was nerve-wracking," the store manager, R.J. Root, told the Times-Picayune.