Louisiana's governor declared a state of emergency Thursday ahead of heavy rain and other possible effects of an approaching tropical system just weeks into hurricane season.
The National Weather Service said the New Orleans area could get 8 inches of rain and winds of 30 mph, with higher gusts.
"Here we are, already in the next hurricane season, and we're not through the first month, and we're already talking about a storm that, as we speak, is somewhere in the Gulf, just due south of Lake Charles," Edwards said.
Lake Charles, hard hit by both of last year's hurricanes and this year's flooding, was not under a tropical storm warning Thursday night.
Donald Jones, a meteorologist for the Lake Charles weather service office, said that there is some uncertainty about the storm's track and that there could be up to 3 inches of rain wherever its rain bands form.
The weather service in Mobile, Alabama, warned of very heavy rain, coastal flooding and winds
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