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Hurricane Francine dragged across the Gulf South overnight with strong winds that gushed storm surge, crumpled roofs and turned roads into rivers from the southeastern Louisiana coast to New Orleans. As it weakened to a tropical storm, Francine spared the Mississippi Coast of its worst but flooded roads and low-lying areas, and brought strong winds that blew before sunrise Thursday morning.
The storm was 60 miles north of New Orleans at 4 a.m.
Forecasters said it rapidly weakened since its landfall Wednesday afternoon near Morgan City, Louisiana. Francine will track across central and northern Mississippi on Thursday, and forecasters warned tropical storm conditions are still expected across South Mississippi Thursday morning.
6:35 a.m.: Flooded streets
Mississippi Department of Transportation reports street flooding on MS 604 at Whipple Road in Hancock County and on U.S. 90 between Rodenburg and Acacia avenues.
Hancock County officials report more than 365 streets flooded, and there are reports of flooded streets in D’Iberville and other areas that typically flood during hurricanes.
Traffic lights aren’t working in Biloxi at Bohn and Division streets and are in flashing mode at Cedar Lake and Medical Park drive.
6:15 a.m.: Thousands without power
The rain is mostly over in South Mississippi and gusty winds continue. making it more challenging to drive on the interstate and prolonging the risk of downed trees and power outages.
Thousands of customers have no power across the Coast this morning.
▪ Coast Electric reports 13,441 customers without power or 15% of its total customers, including 7,422 in Pearl River County, 3,702 in Harrison County and 2317 in Hancock County.
▪ Mississippi Power reports 190 outages affecting 3,618 customers
▪ Singing River Electric power outage map shows 1,889 customers without power, 900 of them around Chico Road North in Pascagoula and 1,500 outages in Jackson County.
Curfew has expired in Gulfport, Bay St. Louis and Waveland
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