By NY Times
After landfall overnight as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 m.p.h. winds, Laura has ripped northward, sowing destruction even as its winds diminish. At least three deaths were confirmed and hundreds of thousands of people lost power.
RIGHT NOW Four deaths have been tied to the storm in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said. All of the deaths were related to falling trees, he said.
Hurricane Laura sweeps ashore as one of most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S.
After making landfall as one of the strongest storms to hit Louisiana on record, Hurricane Laura steamrolled up through the state on Thursday, leaving a trail of far-flung damage in its wake.
The storm, which came ashore near Cameron, La., after midnight as a Category 4 hurricane, brought 150-mile-an-hour winds and a major storm surge out of the Gulf, ripping the facades off brick buildings in Lake Charles, La., and swatting telephone poles to the ground. Laura weakened as it moved inland, but remained destructive, with strong winds and heavy rain, and the potential to spawn deadly tornadoes.
Four deaths have been tied to the storm in Louisiana. The first confirmed death was that of a 14-year-old girl in Leesville, La., a small city about 100 miles inland. According to the Louisiana governor’s office, the girl was killed when a tree fell on her family’s home.
A 68-year-old man near Iota, La., also was killed by a tree falling on a residence, according to Sheriff K.P. Gibson of Acadia Parish. And another storm death in Jackson Parish was confirmed by the governor’s office.
People on the ground in southwestern Louisiana described severe damage to buildings and vehicles, apparently more from the storm’s punishing winds than from its much-feared storm surge. In Lake Charles, La., a regional hub known for its petrochemical plants and crowded casinos, commercial buildings were peeled apart, exposing insulation and wood frames. Billboards were punched out and trees snapped in half. Read more from NY Times.
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