A young NASA engineer was killed by a tornado after it tore his house off its pilings and then tossed property through the air onto another house.
Connor Lambert, 25, was killed in the New Orleans suburb of Arabi on Tuesday evening. He and his dog were found dead in his ruined home, and Lambert’s cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma.
Neighbors said Lambert, who worked as an engineer at the Stennis Space Center, parked his truck outside his home in Arabi on Benjamin Street and made it to his front porch just before his home was “exploded” by a 100 mph EF3 tornado .
His Chevrolet truck was pictured swirling around a tree by the force of the same tornado.
Lambert’s body was found in another “exploded” house. According to St. Bernard County Sheriff James Pomann, he died of “multiple blunt force trauma.”
Neighbor Cole Baiamonte told KSLA they saw Lambert drive into the driveway before they took shelter from the oncoming tornado – when they got out, his house was gone.
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Connor Lambert, 25, (pictured with his mother in high school) died when a tornado that swept across New Orleans on Tuesday tore his house off its piles and destroyed another house a block away.
Lambert’s body was found in another “exploded” house. According to a press release from St. Bernard County Sheriff James Pomann, he died of “multiple blunt force trauma.”
The collapsed foundation of Connor Lambert’s home is pictured after Tuesday’s storm. His truck was tornadoed around a tree, and in this image, the wreckage is covered with a blue tarp.
This image shows Lambert’s wrecked truck, which was picked up by a tornado and crashed into a tree.
Bob Lambert Sr., Lambert’s grandfather, digs through the ruins of his grandson’s house. “Anyone who has met [Connor] loved him. He was such a guy. There are no words to express what we feel,” he said.
The suburb of Arabi (pictured) suffered “the most significant damage” from the hurricane, according to the National Weather Service.
“It was a terrible scene, a very embarrassing situation,” she told the publication. “My family is grateful to God that he was able to protect us. My heart and prayers go out to this family.”
Not a single part of the structure of the building was preserved in the aftermath footage from the drone, turning into a pile of rubble. Lambert’s truck was found wrapped around a tree.
The suburb of Arabi suffered “the most significant damage” from the hurricane, according to the National Weather Service.
Alyssa Vinesky, another of Lambert’s neighbors who took shelter with her young son in her bathtub with her husband lying on top of them, said she “didn’t think I could handle it.”
“We’re a close-knit street,” she told CBS News. “We scream for each other, and then when we look and see Connor’s house, all we can do is scream for him.”
Bob Lambert Sr., Connor’s grandfather, said that “anyone who has met [Connor] loved him. He was such a guy. There are no words to express how we feel.”
Pictured is another home in the Arabi neighborhood of New Orleans after the devastation on Tuesday evening.
Neighbors said Lambert, who was a football player and National Merit Scholar at Chalmette Area High School and before he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Louisiana Lafayette campus, was “always smiling.”
“Connor was the youngest son from an incredible family with deep roots in our school and community,” St. Bernard Parish School Superintendent Doris Voitier said in a statement.
“We are heartbroken by Connor’s death and want his family to know how deeply we all feel this loss, but how grateful we were to have him in our school family.”
Lambert was hired by NASA’s Stennis Space Center, where he worked, before he even graduated from college.
Three tornadoes were confirmed in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, Arabi in St. Bernard Parish and Lacombe in St. Tammany Parish, touching down around 8:00 pm.
A state of emergency was declared by Gov. John Bel Edwards on Wednesday after tornadoes wreaked havoc, flipping cars and moving entire homes. The community is still reeling from Hurricane Ida last August and Hurricane Katrina 17 years ago.
Neighbors said Lambert, who was a football player and National Merit Scholar at Chalmette Area High School and before he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Louisiana Lafayette campus, was “always smiling.”
So far, Lambert is the first New Orleans whose death has been confirmed. Several other people were taken to hospital, and local emergency workers say dozens of homes were damaged in St. Bernard parish alone. Exact numbers will be known after the completion of the initial emergency response.
As the storm approached, Louisiana deployed 300 National Guard personnel to clear roads and provide support. They joined firefighters and others searching house after house to make sure no one was left behind, said John Raheim Jr., director of ward homeland security.
About 8,000 New Orleans residents were left without power, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said on Twitter. Other tornadoes generated by the same system caused so much damage in Texas that the governor declared a natural disaster in 16 counties. Buildings were destroyed in Alabama, where heavy rains were recorded.
The multi-day severe weather event is expected to produce more severe storms as it moves east and is expected to hit Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
Another Arabi resident described the horrifying moment when she felt her house come full circle and when she got out the house was outside. Standing on top of the rubble, she desperately called for help while her daughter, who was on CPR, was trapped inside.
Authorities confirmed that the girl had been rescued.
Gabriela Rivarde stood outside the ruins of her house in Arabi, which was pushed into her neighbor’s house on Wednesday.
“And the neighbor’s house, I think, was shoved into another neighbor’s house,” she told CBS News.