AUSTIN, Texas (NEWSnet/AP) — As a heat wave continues in the southern U.S., more than 100,000 customers in the region remained without power Monday, following damaging storms.

Outages for some customers in the piney woods of Texas could stretch late into the week as crews scramble to make repairs. In some parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, the heat wave has been accompanied by heavy rain, punishing winds, thunderstorms and hail.

Excessive-heat warnings were in effect Monday for wide swaths of Louisiana and Texas, pushing many cities to open cooling centers.

In Austin and San Antonio, highs were expected to surpass 100 degrees.

In Louisiana, officials closed nearly two-dozen state offices Monday because of the risks of severe weather.

Leigh Johnson, a resident of Mount Vernon, Texas, told KXAS in Dallas she had been without power at her home for three days.

“It’s been horrible because it’s like, the heat index has been so bad that literally, we’re having to sit in the cold baths to cool ourselves down,” Johnson said. “Our animals … we’re having to stick them in the bathtub just to keep them from having a heat stroke, it’s been that bad.”

More than 120,000 customers were without power as of Monday morning in the eastern parts of Texas and portions of Louisiana and Oklahoma, according to Southwestern Electric Power Company. Another 4,000 customers were waiting for electricity to return in the Texas town of Perryton after a tornado hit the area last week.

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