JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Parts of the Gulf Coast are at risk for severe weather Thursday as a line of storms marches eastward.

The National Weather Service has posted tornado watches for much of Louisiana and southern Mississippi.

An area of heavy rain is moving through Louisiana and Arkansas and is predicted to douse areas to the east by Friday morning. Forecasters predict a slight chance or tornadoes across southern Louisiana and Mississippi on Thursday. Sustained winds of 25 mph with higher gusts are also predicted across parts of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The same system produced numerous reports of trees down and power outages across Texas and Arkansas late Wednesday and early Thursday.

Heavy rains are also predicted across the South later in the week.