Six tornadoes tore through New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana on Tuesday, injuring about 40 people as the storm roared across highways and streets, leveling trees, power lines and homes.

Brittany Ross said she was savoring the smell of her aunt's simmering white beans when the storm hit. "The place started shaking, kind of twisting," she said on Tuesday as she stood amid the wreckage at a small trailer park in New Orleans.

The tornado, she said, lifted the trailer off the ground and slammed it down.