A neighborhood that was hit by a freak tornado in September suffered another blow when a fire triggered by downed power lines destroyed close to 100 homes. More than 190 firefighters contained the blame after nine hours.

The firefighters sometimes had to wade through waist deep water to fight the blaze as storm surges slammed the neighborhood.

An apartment building where people did not evacuate had to be reached by boat as flames from a neighboring building began to light the apartment building roof. Around 25 people were trapped in an upstairs apartment and had to climb down an awning with firefighters to reach escape boats.

Three people, including one firefighter, suffered minor injuries.

The neighborhood is considered unsafe as power lines are down in the flood waters posting a serious electrocution risk.