Tornadoes cause extensive damage to church in Louisiana

LEBEAU, La. (KLFY) — To hear the church bells ringing at Immaculate Conception Church is nothing short of a miracle. After they received extensive damages during this week’s tornadoes.

Father Joseph Kikanda says he was in his house next to the church when the tornado touched down.

“I held myself close to the window thinking that when the house was taken to the bayou, because there’s a bayou close to the church, I would jump from the window. Which was wrong,” he said.

Father Joseph says the damage reached across the campus from the roof of their reception hall, as well as leaving a lot of sheet metal in the back. The building next to it had to be covered in tarp because much of that roof was blown off. There was also damage to the main church building as it got flooded during the rain.

“The first thing I saw outside was, my garage where I park my cars, was on top of the car,” he said. “My God, can you imagine? What kind of phenomenon is that?”

Although there is a lot of damage to clean up, Father Joseph remains grateful the buildings are intact, and the church will be fine.

“It will take a while to fix all of these things, but we called the diocese, we called the insurance,” he said. “They came for an investigation. And we are hoping they come back to fix everything. So, I’m surviving I can say, thank you and God bless you.”

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