After a tornado stormed through parts of New Orleans Tuesday morning in a hit-or-miss pattern, some people were left instantly homeless.

Jesse Faulk, history senior, was one of those people.

In a matter of about 15 seconds, the entire front of the Freret Street fourplex he called home was ripped off, along with part of a side wall and the roof.

At about 3 a.m., Faulk woke up from a short nap to start studying. While he was in his kitchen making a snack, he heard something out of the ordinary.

“All of a sudden,” Faulk said, “it sounded like really heavy rain had started, and I realized it wasn’t rain, it was wind.”

The next thing he heard were windows breaking around the neighborhood. A few seconds later, the sounds hit closer to home – literally.

“My windows all started breaking, and at that point the electricity went out,” Faulk recalled.

He said from beginning to end, the entire scenario lasted about 15 seconds.

As Tuesday drew on, Faulk, dressed in a white T-shirt, basketball shorts and flip-flops sorted through his possessions, searching for what could be salvaged as a debris pile, already about five feet tall, grew on the curb.

A day after the tornado spun through, Faulk has begun a new search.

“The building’s not structurally sound. I have to move out and find a new place,” he said.

Remnants of a Loyola student’s shirt hang in debris outside a home in the vicinity of Freret and Burdette streets. (Catherine Cotton)

Army Reserve 1st Lt. Arthur gordon talks on a cell phone near a storm-damaged home in the Carrollton neighborhood. A powerful storm and a tornado hit the area early Tuesday morning. (Steve Kashishian)

History senior Jesse Faulk stands in front of his storm-damaged apartment. Faulk lived in the top left portion of the house and said the tornado tore through in about 15 seconds. (Catherine Cotton)