NEW ORLEANS — Thousands of people are waking up without power as strong thunderstorms move through Southeast Louisiana Wednesday morning.
The most intense line of storms was moving through the New Orleans area between 7 and 8 a.m. Heavy rain, winds up to 60 mph and some cases of pea-sized hail in the Uptown neighborhood were reported.
There have been no reports of injuries.
As of 7:30 a.m., more than 8,000 people were without power in Jefferson Parish, mainly in the River Ridge area. Outages were also reported in Kenner and on the West Bank near Avondale.
The National Weather Service said winds had damaged at least structure in Avondale.
Another 2,000 people were without power in Plaquemines Parish, according to the Entergy online outage map. Damages were reported across the parish from last night's heavy storms as well. Outages ranged from Belle Chase down Belle Chase Highway.
The NWS reported multiple downed trees, broken power poles and live wires down the highway in Plaquemines Parish.
4,000 people were without power in Tangipahoa Parish, mostly in the Hammond area, where a possible tornado touched down during last night's severe weather.
Photos from the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's office show damages to several storefronts in the Hammond and Loranger areas, including damage to a building at a high school.
RELATED: Strong to Severe Storms This Morning
Several downed trees on the roadways were reported in Houma and Gray in Terrebonne Parish.
Outages were affecting some traffic lights in the area during the morning commute. While the commute is limited by coronavirus Stay at Home orders, drivers are still reminded to treat any intersections with offline stop lights as four-way stops.
Several accidents were reported on the roadways.
The strong storms have closed COVID-19 testing sites Wednesday.
Testing will not happen at the Marrero site on the West Bank and will pick up Thursday with additional tests. Testing sites in St. Charles and St. James parishes will also be closed Wednesday due to the weather.
This is a developing story. Stay with WWL-TV and WWLTV.com for the latest information
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
