A wave of severe weather is moving east Wednesday, bringing severe thunderstorms and the potential for strong tornadoes to the New Orleans area and other parts of the central Gulf Coast, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters warned that more than 7 million people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama could experience extreme weather on Wednesday. They warned that the threats could be strong, including flooding, rain, hail, damaging wind gusts exceeding 75 mph and even tornadoes.
Shortly after dawn, the weather in the area began to deteriorate. The National Weather Service issued more than a dozen tornado warnings and watches for towns from Texas to Mississippi.
One of the more significant alerts was that a tornado watch was issued for areas from southeastern Louisiana to Columbus, Mississippi, until early afternoon.
The National Weather Service also issued flash flood warnings for areas around Jackson, Michigan, which include about 400,000 residents.
Forecasters predicted that the mass of storms approaching the region could dump up to 4 inches of rain in a short period of time from northeast Louisiana to southwest Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. This storm is expected to bring hail and strong winds into the evening.
“Residents and visitors are advised to have multiple ways to receive warnings and to never drive on flooded roads,” the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Most of the severe weather was expected to begin in the morning and last through the afternoon, but parts of Mississippi were already reeling from overnight storms.
At least one tornado was reported in Raymond, Michigan, just west of the state capital, Jackson, according to local news outlets.
Multiple trees and power lines were reported down throughout nearby counties. As of around 6:30 a.m. local time, more than 30,000 customers were without power in Mississippi, according to PowerOutage.Us, which aggregates data from power companies across the country. More than 40,000 additional people were without power in Louisiana and about 60,000 in Texas.
The National Weather Service in New Orleans said on social media that the storm moving through the city on Wednesday will slowly approach and some of the main impacts will be heavy rain and flash flooding.
In anticipation of the weather, authorities closed City Hall and other city buildings on Wednesday. However, schools remained open.
Further north, the National Weather Service in Jackson, Michigan, warned residents Wednesday that winds could gust up to 110 mph, increasing the chance of tornadoes and hail.