The Red River Parish Fire Department’s substation at Westdale was damaged by the storm last weekend. And there was some damage to the farm located across Highway 1 at Bundrick Road.

Deputy Red River Fire Chief Mike Robinson said the doors were blown inward, then out and off. He said the north wall of the fire station was blown out by the storm this past weekend. Robinson told the Journal that the station is not operational and will be out of service until repairs are made. He also said that no dollar damage estimate is available yet.

Across Highway 1 from the Westdale fire station trees were downed and three large grain bins were upended by the storm. There was minor damage to the main farm office. A farmer, who asked not to be identified, said the wind gage on the property recorded winds of 102 miles an hour.

The Journal contacted Meterologist Travis Washington at the National Weather Service office in Shreveport. Washington said their records of the storm are that it was a severe thunderstorm with high winds in the 45 to 60 miles per hour range. He said NWS had no report of winds reaching 100 plus.

The National Weather Service also received reports of trees down and other minor damage at several locations in Red River Parish. One was off of Highway 71 in the northern part of the parish and another was along Highway 480.

SWEPCO told the Journal the storm this past weekend caused about 1,000 of its customers in the Coushatta area to loose power. Power came back on, and then went off, several times over the weekend. Swepco restored most of those affected by the end of the weekend. Overall, SWEPCO says 22,000 of its customers were in the dark at one time or another.