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The tornado that moved through Jefferson County tossing RV’s at Pleasure Island RV Park is now rated as EF-3, according to the National Weather Service.

This marks the seventh EF-3 in Jefferson County since 1950 according to the National Weather Service Storm Events Database.

The twister has winds of 161 mph.

Officials with Jefferson County and Port Arthur are now asking residents to report any damage from Saturday’s storm event.

Jefferson County Emergency Management has begun the process of reporting damages to the Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iStat) following the impact of the severe weather event that occurred on Dec. 28. This system will be used to document and assess the extent of the damages caused by the wind event throughout the County, according to information from the city’s website.

Residents of Jefferson County play a crucial role in this process. We strongly encourage everyone to report their damages through the user-friendly iStat system. By doing so, you will help state and county officials better understand the damages to allocate the necessary resources for recovery and assistance. To report your damages, simply access the iStat system by visiting portarthurtx,gov

A storm survey was performed by NWS and more areas will be surveyed in the coming days.

“The most significant was the Sabine Ranch Lodge Tornado. This was a well defined, strong, long tracked tornado that enter southern Jefferson County and stayed on the ground throughout the county and into Sabine Lake, and likely went into western Cameron Parish,” according to info from NWS.

Recap

Two people at an RV park on Pleasure Island were injured and RV’S damaged in Saturday’s tornado.

Port Arthur Deputy Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator Jermey Houston said the call of the tornado came in at 4:06 p.m. for the tornado that struck Pleasure Island RV Park, 540 S. Levee Road.

One of the people injured suffered a laceration and refused treatment and the other had a more serious injury and was transported to a hospital by private vehicle.

Officials believe there is more damage in the city and damage assessments are still ongoing and will continue, he said.

“It’s still early as far as approximate damage,” Houston said.

Port Arthur Acting Fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Havens said about eight RV’s were damaged by the tornado; one was completely destroyed and one went into the water.

Contractors from out of town are believed to be staying in some of the RV’s and most of them were at work at the time of the tornado, Havens said.

Cameron Kowalski with the National Weather Service Lake Charles said the tornado is believed to be associated with the path of a tornado that went through Chambers County earlier in the day. He added they are still gathering data and will send teams out.