PORT ARTHUR: Hurricane Laura made landfall early on Thursday in southwestern Louisiana. It is one of the most powerful storms to hit the state, with forecasters warning it could push a massive wall of water 65 km inland from the sea.
The National Weather Service said the storm surge, possibly higher than a two-storey house, could be “unsurvivable,” acknowledging that as an unusually dire warning.
Laura crashed ashore at around 1 am Central Time as a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the five-step scale, packing winds of 240 kmph in the small town of Cameron, Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
By 4 am, it had been downgraded to a Category 3 storm with the centre about 50 km north-northwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Besides threatening life, the storm was barrelling toward the heart of the US oil industry, forcing oil rigs and refineries to shut down production.
“The eye wall of Laura will continue to move inland across southwestern Louisiana during the next several hours,” the NHC said in an early Thursday bulletin.
Maximum sustained winds had slowed to 195 kmph), but were still strong enough to blow out windows in Lake Charles’ 22-floor Capital One Tower, social media images showed.
Officials across the hard-hit area said it would be several hours before they could get out to begin search and rescue missions. Downed trees blocking roadways were expected to be the biggest immediate challenge for rescuers.
About 620,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders in Louisiana and Texas, but officials acknowledged many people would choose to stay home.
Hurricane Laura was also expected to spawn tornadoes on Thursday over Louisiana, far southeastern Texas and southwestern Mississippi, with widespread flooding likely from far eastern Texas across Louisiana and Arkansas.