Hurricane Laura makes
landfall in Louisiana
27 August, 2020
Hurricane Laura made landfall early Thursday in southwestern Louisiana as one of the most powerful storms to hit the state, with forecasters warning it could push a massive wall of water 40 miles inland from the sea.
Laura made landfall packing winds of 150 miles per hour (240 km) in the small town of Cameron, Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The area in the direct path of Laura is home to about 4 million people, but officials said most had left for safer areas under evacuation orders. Sheriffs, police officers and other authorities said it would be several hours before they could safely venture out to begin search and rescue operations.
Hurricane-strength winds could blow as far as 200 miles inland to Shreveport, Louisiana, forecasters said.
The oil-refining town of Port Arthur was just west of where Laura made landfall. The city of 54,000 was a ghost town late Wednesday, with just a couple of gas stations and a liquor store open for business.
"People need their vodka," said Janaka Balasooriya, a cashier, who said he lived a few blocks away and would ride out the storm at home.
The area where Laura made landfall is marshy and particularly vulnerable to the storm surge of ocean water.
"This is one of the strongest storms to impact that section of coastline," said David Roth, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. "We worry about that storm surge going so far inland there because it's basically all marshland north to Interstate 10. There is little to stop the water."
Just hours before Laura smashed into the coast, Port Arthur resident Eric Daw hustled to fill up his car at one of the few gas stations still open.
He said he had wanted to evacuate earlier but lacked money for gas as he was waiting on a disability payment. Daw was headed to a shelter in San Antonio, a 4-1/2-hour drive, where instead of worrying about the storm he has to contend with COVID-19, echoing concerns of many others.
high tide in Cameron parish, LA is at 2:11 am. 2’4” tidal rise.
Plus storm surge of 10-20ft
plus wave action.
At about Midnight, eastern time, the National Weather Service issued an "Extreme Wind Warning" which is reserved for when Hurricanes come ashore. Here's what they warned about:
The National Weather Service in Lake Charles has issued a
* Extreme Wind Warning for...
Cameron Parish in southwestern Louisiana...
Jefferson Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana...
Southern Beauregard Parish in southwestern Louisiana...
Southwestern Acadia Parish in southwestern Louisiana...
Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana...
Western Vermilion Parish in southwestern Louisiana...
Southwestern Allen Parish in southwestern Louisiana...
Eastern Jefferson County in southeastern Texas...
Southwestern Newton County in southeastern Texas...
Southeastern Hardin County in southeastern Texas...
Orange County in southeastern Texas...
Southeastern Jasper County in southeastern Texas...
* Until 100 AM CDT.
* At 1053 PM CDT, National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated
extreme winds, associated with the eyewall of Hurricane Laura,
were moving onshore along a line extending from 15 miles south of
Sabine Pass to 6 miles southwest of Creole to 7 miles south of
Freshwater City, moving north at 25 mph. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY
DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION!
* Locations impacted include...
Beaumont, Lake Charles, Port Arthur, Sulphur, Orange, Nederland,
Groves, Port Neches, Lumberton and Vidor.
Here's the radar image showing the moment the storm came ashore:
Buildings Gutted
When the storm arrived in Lake Charles, even the most modern office buildings came apart. Video tells the story:
Here's what it looked like as winds began to strike in Lake Charles:
This guy put it simply: "In It"
At 30 seconds into this video, the power grid failed - dramatically!
Despite coming ashore, the hurricane REMAINED INTACT for many, many miles!
Utility Poles SNAPPED; Trucks Flipped
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Pete Gaynor urged people in Laura’s path to stay home, if that’s still safe. “Don’t go out sightseeing. You put yourself, your family at risk and you put first responders at risk,” he told “CBS This Morning.”
FEMA has plenty of resources staged to help survivors, Gaynor said. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards mobilized the National Guard to help, and state Department of Wildlife crews had boats prepared for water rescues.
Forecasters expected a weakened Laura to cause widespread flash flooding in states far from the coast. An unusual tropical storm warning was issued as far north as Little Rock, where forecasters expected gusts of 50 mph (80 kph) and a deluge of rain through Friday. After turning eastward and reaching the Atlantic Ocean, it could again become a tropical storm and threaten the Northeast.
Laura hit the U.S. after killing nearly two dozen people on the island of Hispaniola, including 20 in Haiti and three in the Dominican Republic, where it knocked out power and caused intense flooding.
Laura was the seventh named storm to strike the U.S. this year, setting a new record for U.S. landfalls by the end of August. The old record was six in 1886 and 1916, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
10:20 AM EDT --
Hurricane is fully onshore and moving due north:
A 14-year-old girl in Louisiana is the first known fatality from Hurricane Laura, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Edwards confirmed the death during an interview Thursday morning with MSNBC, saying that the girl died when a tree fell on her home in the Leesville area.
"I suspect that won't be the last, though I pray we don't have any more," Edwards told MSNBC. "But we know we have at least one fatality now in Louisiana."
508,109 customers without power in Louisiana and Texas
By 8:15 a.m. ET, there were 403,921 customers without power in Louisiana and 104,188 customers without power in Texas.
BEFORE-AFTER
Here, a modern office building, with all the latest construction safety features, didn't fare well . . . at all:
Here's video of that building, up close:
Smaller things, like this Recreational Vehicle (RV) were no match for the wind gusts -- it FLIPS OVER in the video below:
The damage is utterly amazing:
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