BATON ROUGE - Officials are advising residents to stay safe as severe weather moves through the area.

State police issued a warning before 11:30 a.m. asking people to avoid driving if possible.

“If you must drive, slow down and use extreme caution,” a post on social media said.

Troopers say they have already responded to several weather-related crashes

Sever thunderstorms are expected to hit the Baton Rouge area throughout the afternoon and into the late evening. Keep with the latest weather updates here: http://www.wbrz.com/news/monitor-these-wbrz-tv-online-channels-today-for-urgent-weather-updates