Storms pushing ashore across Southeast Louisiana from what was Tropical Storm Arthur came with heavy rain and possible tornadoes around 2:00am.
Power was knocked out to thousands of homes and businesses.
As of 2:30am, power was out to 7746 customers in Louisiana. The largest numbers of outages were in Terrebonne Parish and St. Charles Parish.
The National Weather Service warned, "Tornadoes are extremely difficult to see and confirm at night."
Forecasters say flooding is also a threat into the morning.
"Flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible."
Radar indicates some of the heavier cells are dumping five or more inches of rain per hour.
"A large area with rainfall amounts of 4 to 7 inches is expected ... with isolated totals considerably higher."
A flood watch runs through Friday morning, with the heaviest of the rain into the daytime hours today (Thursday).
