Strong storms started rolling across the U.S. Tuesday night with torrential rain, hail and fierce winds that flooded streets, caused hazardous road conditions and left over 200,000 without power.
On Wednesday morning, 13 million people were under flood watches from eastern Texas to northern Florida and a ribbon of flash flood warnings extends from southeast Texas, across central Louisiana and into western Mississippi.
As of 10 a.m., over 239,000 customers are without power across the U.S., with over 139,000 out in Louisiana, nearly 60,000 out in Texas, 33,000 in Mississippi and 4,500 out in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.
Heavy rain may produce 2 to 3 inches of rainfall an hour at times Wednesday morning across the South and Gulf Coast. Rivers forecast to go into major flood stage include Village Creek near Kountze, Texas, and the Sabine River at Logansport, Louisiana.
Cities that could experience the highest risk of flash flooding Wednesday include Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida.
Six million people are also under tornado watches Wednesday morning, including the metro areas of Lake Charles, Baton Rouge and New Orleans as a severe line of thunderstorms is charging across the I-10 corridor of Louisiana.
