Marshall and Harrison County escaped damages and injuries Thursday as a slow-moving low pressure system moved through the area, flooding roads and canceling activities.

"Rain will continue today but not much more heavy rain. The axis of heavy rain is past Marshall and is not expected to backbuild toward East Texas," said Patrick Ombundson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Shreveport.

COURTNEY CASE/News Messenger (ENLARGE)

Rain drops collect on a sunroof of a car parked near the historic Harrison County Courthouse Thursday as a line of severe thunderstorms brought more flooding and damage to the area.

Thursday's severe weather developed from a large closed low pressure system out west that produced a low level jet stream.

"Today, that jet was 50 to 60 mph winds in the low levels. In the low levels, we are talking 2,000 to 5,000 feet that was bringing all that Gulf moisture in," said Ombundson.

The front moved in slowly and allowed strong thunderstorms to develop, and the winds brought the heavy moisture in and contributed that to the storms, he said.

"The front moving through slowly accounted for the long duration of storms rather than the fast moving fronts which push storms through quickly," he added. "The ground was already wet from all of the other rain we have had this month, so flooding occurred quickly."

Low-lying roads were expected to be flooded, he said.

No major damage was reported for Harrison County to the National Weather Service in Shreveport, though tornados were possibly sighted in the Caddo Lake area.

Radar estimates for rainfall on the western side of Caddo Lake showed less than 2 inches while the Louisiana side of the lake was estimated at 4 inches.

National Weather Service hydrology reports said Caddo Lake is at 173.8 feet. It has been above its 172 foot flood stage for several weeks.

"Flow is coming into the lake from upstream rainfall, so it will come up a little bit," said Ombundson. "The head waters of streams flowing into Caddo Lake may have seen up to three inches."

Even with light rains forecast today, Ombundson said conditions will be cool and dry with a little cloud cover.

"It's going to be nice for a while," he said.

An 80 percent of showers and thunderstorms is predicted before 1 p.m. today, and some of the storms could produce heavy rain. The high temperature will be 59 and winds will be west between 5 and 10 mph. Tonight will see mostly cloudy skies with a low about 46 and a 40 percent chance for showers. Winds will be west about 5 mph, according to the weather service.

Local officials were also monitoring the severe weather system as it crossed over Marshall and Harrison County.

"No damage has been reported. We did activate the early warning signs," said Randy Pritchard, coordinator of Marshall's Office Of Emergency Management.

The warnings were activated due to the National Weather Service alerting Marshall of a tornado warning for part of the city. "They stay activated for three minutes, the standard setting on them," said Pritchard. "It's the responsibility of the citizen to go to their radio, TV or Internet and then do whatever will make their family safe."

Harrison County also did not have any reports of major damage and no reports of injuries due to weather Thursday.

"We have had reports of a couple of trees being down due to the saturated ground, rather than the actual storm," said Harrison County Fire Marshal Dennis Engdahl.

Trees were found down on Blocker Road and on Boggy Road south of Waskom. Another tree was reportedly down on Farm-to-Market Road 1997 about a quarter of a mile south of Farm-to-Market Road 134.

"There is no doubt we will have some roads flooded in their normal spots," said Engdahl.

Harrison County dispatch reported Farm-to-Market Road 31 was flooded about three miles south of Interstate 20. At 6:49 p.m., a woman was reportedly stuck in knee-deep water at that spot.

Farm-to-Market Road 2199 was also flooded in front of Texas Energy.

"We advise people not to go through flooded roads because they don't know if they have been washed out or not," said Engdahl. "They need to turn around and find a different way."

While major damage was avoided, several activities were cancelled to keep residents out of potential danger.

Marshall's downtown fall festival was cancelled and will not be rescheduled, said Marshall Main Street director Bo Ellis.

"It has been our objective with the fall festival to provide a safe environment for the children," said Ellis. "But with the storms and high winds, we didn't feel it would be a good idea to encourage people to get out in the weather."

The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Big Pines also closed early on Thursday so parents and children could be together without the wonder and worry as storms blew through.

"We closed everything from top to bottom," said Bryan Partee, executive director.

Partee and club officials had parents pick their children up early to avoid the majority of the severe weather.

"Our buildings are made of cinder block, so this is a safe place to be, but we figured the parents would be better off with their kids," he said.

MISD and Boys and Girls Clubs locations will resume as usual today.