The City of Monroe is assessing damage to infrastructure following an Easter tornado and starting clean up efforts.

Mayor Jamie Mayo said the tornado damaged a lot of property and structures and brought down many power lines and trees.

Two hundred homes or more were damaged in Monroe alone, displacing residents to area hotels.

Easter tornadoes rip through Louisiana:Tornadoes displace at least 200 Ouachita families

Monroe Fire Department Chief Terry Williams said the tornado touched ground in several locations throughout the city.

“We have major structural damage and major power lines down,” Williams said. “We have hundreds of lines down, and this is going to take a long time for us to recover from. Not two or three days or two or three months.”

Monroe Fire and Police conducted home-by-home sweeps immediately after the tornado. A secondary sweep of structures was conducted in the late afternoon Sunday.

A third sweep will happen Monday morning with the assistance of 35 employees of the State Fire Marshal’s office. Searched homes will be marked in this sweep.

A few injuries were reported in Monroe, but there are no known fatalities.

Tornado and COVID-19: Monroe dealing with two large scale emergencies

Police Chief Reggie Brown said both the COVID-19 pandemic and the tornado are large scale emergencies the city will need to deal with.

“Our main concern is people who are coming from other areas of the city to view the damage,” Brown said, noting this causes an additional chance of harm for them and creates a bottleneck for emergency vehicles attempting to access damaged areas.

The city is asking people to stay-at-home due to both the pandemic and the tornado.

Brown said darkness brings additional dangers to neighborhoods without power. Visibility will be zero, Brown said, increasing the chance of running over debris and other hazards like nails.

MPD will be setting up mobile command centers at Powell Avenue and Carver Elementary for officers to work from in the coming days.

Public Works Director Tom Janway said his department is working to remove trees but can only remove them after the trees are cleared by Entergy.

Crews will work until dark and then resume operations in the morning.

Mayo said Entergy reported 7,000 customers in Ouachita remain without power as of 6 p.m. Most are in south Monroe and east Monroe.

Entergy is expected to have 50 trucks in the area by 6 a.m. Monday to aid with restoration.

The city is also using auxiliary pumps at stormwater pump stations in south Monroe that were impacted by the storm and using generators to power facilities.

Janway also said the city is working to clear runways and taxiways at Monroe Regional Airport of debris so the airport can reopen as soon as possible. It is expected the runways will be clear by Monday morning.

Closed streets in Monroe

The following streets in Monroe are closed for debris removal:

Number streets from South Second to South Seventh

Plum Street (scheduled to reopen by midnight)

Orange Street

Peach Street

Harvester Drive

Outlet Road

South Grand

St. John

Airport complex

Ouachita Parish homes 'leveled,' airport closed:Officials describe tornado damage