Strong thunderstorms rolled across north Louisiana late Monday night and into the early morning hours Tuesday, bringing heavy rain, intense lightning and gusty winds that caused scattered power outages, including temporary outages in Ruston.
The storms moved through the region beginning around 11 p.m. Monday and continued into the overnight hours, producing torrential rainfall and nearly continuous lightning across portions of Lincoln Parish and surrounding areas. The lightning activity was particularly intense around midnight, with frequent flashes illuminating the sky as the strongest cells moved through the area.
Reports of temporary power outages surfaced in Ruston as the storms passed through.
The National Weather Service office in Shreveport had warned that some storms could become severe, with damaging winds and localized flooding posing the greatest threats. The strongest storms were capable of producing wind gusts up to 60 mph, small hail and rainfall rates high enough to cause localized street flooding.
A flash flood warning was issued by the NWS in Shreveport just after 1 a.m. through 4:15 a.m. with rain totals expect between two and four inches in some areas of north Louisiana.
No significant damage had been immediately reported Tuesday morning, although isolated power outages and downed limbs remained possible following the overnight storms.
Areas of the state received record rainfall late last week and through the weekend, especially in central and southern parts of Louisiana.
