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NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur battered parts of the southeastern United States with drenching rains and strong wind on Thursday, tearing through buildings, flooding homes and launching water rescues along the Gulf Coast.
Severe weather also pummeled parts of the Midwest, where a separate line of strong storms knocked down structures and left tens of thousands of residents without power.
Arthur was the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin, and although it quickly downgraded within a day of forming, the lingering system created dangerous conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi. In one rural Louisiana parish, more than 2 feet of rain fell in 48 hours and most of that soaking came Thursday, said Donald Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.
It flooded at least 200 homes in Avoyelles Parish, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of the state capital, Louisiana state Rep. Daryl Deshotel said.
"Even by this region's standards, that's catastrophic rain," Jones said.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a social media post Thursday night that a worker on a county road crew in the southwestern part of the state had been killed while helping with storm cleanup operations. The cause of the death was not disclosed.
Thirty homes below the Anchor Lake dam in southern Mississippi were being evacuated as a precaution due to concerns that rising waters could overwhelm the spillways and compromise the structure, Reeves said. Residents in the area were being encouraged to seek higher ground.
Coni Dubois said several inches of water flooded her home overnight in Houma, southwest of New Orleans, but others in the community had worse damage. She's lived through many hurricanes and other storms, but never witnessed thunder and lightning like this.
"It was unbelievable, it literally sounded like hell broke open," Dubois said. "I thought for sure we had a tornado on top of us. The lightning and the thunder was so consistent, the whole house was lit up like daylight for about 20 minutes."
The National Guard and state wildlife officials were working with rescue crews, officials said.
One tornado had been confirmed in Avoyelles Parish in central Louisiana, along with three others near New Orleans, the weather service said.
Louisana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency for some storm-hit areas, and the town of Cottonport in Avoyelles Parish said it was turning off water service overnight "to manage our resources and allow our system to recover." It urged residents to limit water use and to fill pots and other containers before the water was shut off.
Amid relentless rainfall in central Louisiana, Cody Coco said he rescued stranded workers -- waist deep in water -- at a cypress sawmill operation he runs near his home in Avoyelles Parish. He said the water has continued to rise all throughout the day.