Nearly all of the hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses that suffered power outages in Louisiana due to Hurricane Francine had their lights turned back on by late Monday, though there were still a few outages in hard hit coastal areas.

Help is within reach for Louisiana residents who may have lost money due to Hurricane Francine.Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) is available to businesses and residents in eight parishes whose employment or self-employment was lost or interrupted as a direct result of Hurricane Francine.

With hours to go until Hurricane Francine makes landfall in Louisiana, "the time to evacuate has now passed," Jacques Thibodeau, the director of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said at a news conference.