Live Updates
CNN’s live coverage of Hurricane Laura has moved here.
Powerful Hurricane Laura battered the Louisiana coastline Thursday morning after sweeping ashore as the region’s strongest storm in over a century.
If you’re just reading in now, here are the latest developments on the storm:
As Hurricane Laura continues to move inland, the weakening trend has continued. Winds are now 110 mph, which makes Laura a strong Category 2 hurricane.
The center, known as the eye of the storm, is located about 45 miles north of Lake Charles.
Further weakening will continue, and Laura will likely become a tropical storm later today as it tracks from Louisiana into Arkansas.
Power outages in Louisiana and Texas are climbing at a rapid pace this morning, after Hurricane Laura made landfall on the Gulf Coast.
There are now 394,763 customers without power in both states, according to PowerOutage.US.
More than 317,000 of those customers are in Louisiana, while more than 77,000 are in Texas.
Louisiana officials are warning those who didn’t evacuate from mandatory zones before Hurricane Laura hit that rescue efforts won’t start until the surge has passed.
“Those choosing to stay and face this very dangerous storm must understand that rescue efforts cannot and will not begin until after storm and surge has passed and it is safe to do so,” the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday.
“Please evacuate, and if you choose to stay and we can’t get to you, write your name, address, social security number and next of kin and put it a Ziploc bag in your pocket. Praying that it does not come to this.”
Read more here.
Damage has been reported this morning at CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital in Lake Charles.
“At this time, we know we have sustained damage to the facility, but are waiting until the morning to get a clear picture,” hospital spokeswoman Heather Hidalgo tells CNN.
The top of the skybridge that goes from the hospital to the parking garage has lost its covering due to the powerful winds from Laura, Hidalgo said.
“Everyone is doing well. No evacuations during the storm,” she said.
Damage is being reported across the Lake Charles area – like at this condo complex.
Take a look:
Resident Tolor White, Jr, dozed off after working on a crossword puzzle, when he heard a loud noise a little before 1:15 a.m.
When he crawled out from under his makeshift barricade – two mattresses – he saw the roof had been taken off by the wind. As he was surveying the damage, the glass windows broke directly next to him.
Before Hurricane Laura made landfall, emergency management responders were already facing unprecedented demands as they juggled wildfires, hurricanes, and ongoing disaster and recovery efforts amid a nationwide pandemic.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, is among those assisting with the response on all fronts. It has taken the lead in operational coordination for the federal interagency response to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also responsible for the federal response for hurricane preparedness and recovery.
But the agency is facing a unique set of complexities in the face of a pandemic and a hurricane.
The bandwidth of the agency in the throes of hurricane season had previously been a point of concern for some government officials and disaster experts as FEMA worked to assist with the coronavirus response. While the agency is equipped to help with a range of disasters, Hurricane Laura is likely to present its own set of challenges.
From securing shelters and coordinating evacuations that allow for social distancing to ensuring an ample workforce for emergency response, the pandemic is presenting a unique set of complexities for emergency management.
Laura has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, with winds now at 120 mph, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is expected to further weaken as it moves quickly inland over Louisiana, with hurricane force winds extending out 60 miles from the center.
The center, known as the eye of the hurricane, is currently 30 miles north of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and 50 miles northeast of Port Arthur, Texas.
Where it’s heading next: The storm is expected to continue moving across southwestern Louisiana in the early hours of the morning, then continue northward across the state through Thursday afternoon. The storm’s center is forecast to move over Arkansas later Thursday night, then reach the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday and the mid-Atlantic states on Saturday.
Josh Morgerman, a hurricane chaser currently in Sulphur, Louisiana, told CNN that Hurricane Laura was going to “become the new benchmark storm for this region of the United States.”
“The past biggies were Hurricane Audrey of 1957 which made landfall in almost the exact same place, killed hundreds of people in the town of Cameron,” he said. Then in 2005, Hurricane Rita hit the same area and devastated the region again.
The region has learned how to better respond to earthquakes – but “Hurricane Laura, because of its intensity, by far the strongest on record for this region, I think Laura’s the new benchmark for this part of the United States,” he said.
Sulphur lies just west of Lake Charles, where the eye of the hurricane is passing over.
Hurricane Laura’s maximum sustained winds have died down slightly to 130 miles per hour – but as the storm moves north from Cameron, Louisiana, where it made landfall, tidal surges are starting to push water levels up in those coastal communities.
The water levels in Hackberry, which lies next to Cameron, have already started spiking, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
And Austin Lewis, who’s riding out the storm in his tugboat in Hackberry, says conditions are worsening; the wind had been relatively mild and the rain had stopped when he sat in the eye of the storm, but now choppy waters and roaring winds are approaching along with the eyewall.
The storm surges could reach 20 feet high, meteorologists have warned – which could spell disaster for lower-lying coastal towns like Cameron and Holly Beach.
Take a look:
The city of Lake Charles has experienced some damage as the eyewall of Hurricane Laura passes over it, authorities told CNN.
“We have seen flying debris in the area,” Calcasieu Parish spokesman Tom Hoefer said. “We know there is some damage to buildings in the downtown area.”
However, the extent of the damage is not yet known.
There is no flooding so far in the downtown area, Hoefer added.
CNN is tracking Hurricane Laura’s path here:
Power outages in Louisiana and Texas are climbing at a rapid pace this morning, after Hurricane Laura made landfall on the Gulf Coast.
There are now nearly 285,000 customers without power in both states, according to PowerOutage.US.
Nearly 225,000 of those customers are in Louisiana, while more than 60,000 are in Texas.
Hurricane Laura is now sitting over Lake Charles, Louisiana, and maximum sustained winds have fallen slightly to 140 mph.
It’s still a Category 4 storm, though meteorologists had previously forecast that it would weaken rapidly after moving inland.
Where is it going next? Winds in the eye of the hurricane will decrease dramatically for an hour or more, before the southern eyewall moves over Lake Charles and brings gusts over 100 mph once again, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm continues to move north at about 15 mph, and the eyewall will head across southwestern Louisiana in the coming hours.
“It’s hitting with such force, this could still be a Category 1 well up into the state of Arkansas. They could lose power in Little Rock as well,” warned CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.
Austin Lewis is riding out Hurricane Laura on his tugboat in Hackberry, Louisiana – and he’s now sitting in the eye of the hurricane.
Hackberry lies south of Lake Charles and north of Cameron, where the hurricane made landfall just over an hour ago.
“It’s not so bad at the moment. We’re in the eye now. Right before we got into the eye, it was – the highest gauge we got here was 137 miles per hour,” he told CNN. “We had a couple of buildings around us come loose. A couple of antennae and satellites off of some boats.”
There’s not much rain at the moment, he said. The wind is at a low roar outside his cabin, and measuring about 30 to 40 miles per hour on his boat’s wind gauge.
He added that it was fairly common for people in the area to stay, since many of them have boats. “Everybody knew what they were getting into before they got here,” he said.
Watch:
Hurricane Laura made landfall about an hour ago near Cameron, Louisiana.
The town is relatively low-lying, with only about 5 or 10 feet of elevation – meaning “It’s mostly completely underwater,” said CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.
“There will not be a chance to get to that area until late in the morning,” he added.
The eye of the storm is now moving over Lake Charles, lying further north. Already, the conditions have deteriorated severely; winds are howling, and storm chasers have reported glass being blown everywhere, and ears hurting from the low air pressure.
“Right now you can still hear the wind. It’s screaming through the cracks and crevasses of the building,” said CNN correspondent Martin Savidge from Lake Charles, where the CNN crew is taking refuge indoors.
“When you were outside, you literally felt the entire building as it was shuddering under the wind blow. So it’s taking a beating. And this is one of the strongest buildings in the area., it’s why we chose it.”
The storm surge, heavy rainfall and powerful winds mean it’ll be near impossible to assess the damage until the morning – first responders won’t be able to travel in those conditions, and drones or aircraft won’t be able to get any aerial pictures. Roads will be submerged and power lines will have fallen, making transport or rescue efforts even harder.
Hear more:
CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge is in Lake Charles, Louisiana, about 30 miles away from the eye of Hurricane Laura, which has made landfall near Cameron.
“You’re really getting a sense of the volume of water and amount of wind blow that is blasting across the landscape here,” Savidge said, as wind and rain gusts around him.
“We are in a sheltered area so we’re not getting the full blast of the storm, but the eyewall is really close to us now. You can hear a lot of things banging out of the darkness, and we’ve had the power go off and on. This storm is clearly roaring, and you are reaching that critical moment here, for anybody who’s hunkered inside their home.”
Savidge added that the wind was so strong it was hard to stay standing – but the area is facing the second, potentially worse threat of storm surge.
There is a “tremendous volume of rain that’s now falling down,” he said. “We have slight damage on the property here, but in the exposed areas, especially right down on the coast, they would be getting hammered by all of this.”
Take a look:
Authorities in Cameron, Louisiana, will probably be unable to survey damage across the parish on Thursday due to the expected tidal surge, said Ashley Buller, Cameron’s Assistant Director of Emergency Preparedness.
Buller speculated that it may be Friday or Saturday before authorities could make it into the parish.
Hurricane Laura just made landfall near Cameron. Peak wind gusts in the Parish have been reported up to 127 mph in the past hour as the eye approached.
About 150 residents of the parish chose not to evacuate and ride out the storm.
Hurricane Laura, still a Category 4 storm, has made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana.
There are already “catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds, and flash flooding” taking place in some portions of the state, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane is now about 30 miles southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and about 40 miles east of Port Arthur, Texas.
Maximum winds are still a devastating 150 miles per hour, and the hurricane itself continues to move north at 15 mph.
The storm is expected to move inland across southwestern Louisiana over the coming hours, then head north across the state on Thursday afternoon. The center of the storm will then move over Arkansas and the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday, then reach the mid-Atlantic states by Saturday.
Power outages in Louisiana and Texas are continuing to climb in the early hours of Thursday morning, as Hurricane Laura inches closer to the Gulf Coast.
There are now more than 103,000 customers without power in both states, according to PowerOutage.US.
Some 87,157 of those customers are in Louisiana, while the remaining 16,356 are in Texas.
In Port Arthur, Texas, the majority of residents have evacuated, Mayor Thurman Bartie said on Wednesday night, warning that emergency services won’t be able to help those left behind when the storm fully hits.
“My main priority is really to get all citizens out of homes. Thank God, we probably got 70, almost 80% of our citizens out, actually evacuated,” he told CNN.
The mayor called a mandatory evacuation order on Monday, he said.
Winds in the area are already reaching 40 to 50 miles an hour, and the rain is intensifying, but “the full brunt of it has not even arrived yet,” he said.
“Thank God our citizens, the majority of them, have gotten out. We appreciate that.”
Watch:
The storm’s effects are already being felt in Lake Charles, Louisiana, CNN correspondent Martin Savidge reported from the scene.
Lake Charles is 30 miles from the coast – but the storm surge is projected to go 40 miles inland, meaning the community could face heavy flooding and up to 12 feet of water, Savidge said.
A storm surge is a “complete displacement of that amount of water,” said CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who added that he grew up experiencing these types of storms and conditions.
“So it’s not just that it gently comes in – you get literally like a wall of water that winds up submerging things instantly. You can’t drive out. The ground there is very easily saturated, which means it can’t take much. The water has nowhere to go, people are trapped, and we know what happens then,” Cuomo said.
Watch:
The eyewall of Hurricane Laura is now moving onshore over southwestern Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest warning.
The eyewall is the area around the eye, and is the strongest portion of a hurricane.
It added that the safest place to be when the hurricane makes full landfall is a reinforced interior room away from windows.
“Get under a table or other piece of sturdy furniture. Use mattresses, blankets or pillows to cover your head and body. Remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions,” the center said.
Conditions along the Louisiana coast have further deteriorated; in Cameron, wind gusts have kicked up to 93 mph, and gusts in Calcasieu are measuring 89 mph.
Lake Charles reported a wind gust of 74 mph, but the strongest winds are still an hour or two away from reaching the city.
Hurricane Laura is only a few hours away from landfall – but there are still many people who have stayed behind in Louisiana despite mandatory evacuation orders.
“We did everything humanly possible to get the message to people, and for individuals that don’t even have the financial means to pick themselves up and evacuate, we did provide transportation via our municipal buses and coordinate the state of Louisiana,” Mayor Nic Hunter of Lake Charles told CNN on Wednesday night as the hurricane approached.
Hunter added that it’s difficult to estimate how many people stayed in Lake Charles, but fewer seem to have evacuated than during the devastating 2005 Hurricane Rita.
Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu also weighed in on Wednesday night.
“If you are not where you are supposed to be and that water hits, you will drown. There is no way to survive that,” he said. “I’m very afraid (for) the people that did not evacuate.”
Hear more:
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards warned today that parts of the state will be submerged underwater from Hurricane Laura.
“We are marshaling all of our people and assets to go in tomorrow and start a very robust search and rescue effort,” Edwards added. “We’ve brought in search and rescue teams from other states, such as Tennessee, for example.”
“The first thing about tomorrow is all about saving lives and of course we will be transporting a lot more people to shelters initially and ultimately to hotel and motel rooms.”
Hear more:
A rare “extreme wind warning” has been issued by the National Weather Service office in Louisiana.
Extreme wind warnings are issued when winds that are not associated with a tornado or other thunderstorm event are expected to exceed 115 mph, such as in a major hurricane.
The warning covers Lake Charles, Beaumont, Port Arthur and other nearby locations in extreme southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas, until 2 a.m. ET.
Residents in these locations are warned to ”take cover now and to treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching and move immediately to the safe room in your shelter.”
The hurricane eyewall is nearing the coast of Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center warned in their 11 p.m. ET update.
The center warned that there will be “catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds, and flash flooding expected tonight and early Thursday.”
Wind gusts at Cameron, Louisiana, are already reaching 67 miles per hour. Meanwhile, gusts at Calcasieu Pass are measuring 70 mph.
Most Cameron residents have evacuated, though some remain. About 100,000 residents in Calcasieu Parish, where Lake Charles is located, could face possible flooding.
The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds remain at 150 mph, as it moves toward the coast at roughly 15 mph.
The western stretch of Interstate 10, which runs across southern Louisiana, is now closed as Hurricane Laura barrels toward the coast.
In preparation for the storm, Gov. John Bel Edwards closed the highway from the Louisiana-Texas border to the Atchafalaya Basin.
This portion of the highway includes the Calcasieu River Bridge, which was given a sufficiency rating of 6.6 out of 100 by the National Bridge Inventory upon its most recent assessment.
The I-10 bridge, built in 1952, will face hurricane-force winds and a strong storm surge Wednesday night into Thursday morning, as Hurricane Laura bears down on the region.
The bridge’s structural evaluation was found to be “Basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrective action” by the inventory, which is a part of the Federal Highway Administration. The bridge’s status was determined to be “structurally deficient.”
For context: In 2007, the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge collapsed during rush hour, killing 13 people. It had previously received a sufficiency rating of 50 out of 100.
From midnight last night to midnight tonight, Laura has rapidly intensified from a Category 1 without an eye to a category 4 hurricane with a well-defined eye.
The eye-wall, the area around the eye, is the strongest portion of a hurricane.
Here’s what that 24-hour intensification looked like on satellite:
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards tonight warned residents to stay off the roads as the state prepares for Hurricane Laura to make landfall.
“Much of our state is in the path of Hurricane Laura tonight. Whether you evacuated or are at home, you need to stay off the roads. This is a time for all of us to be praying for the best, while we’re prepared for the worst. God bless you and your families. Be safe tonight,” he tweeted.
Hurricane Laura is expected to bring significant flooding and storm surges into Louisiana as it comes ashore.
Calcasieu Parish, where the city of Lake Charles is located, has about 100,000 residents who are at risk of possible flooding, parish spokesman Tom Hoefer told CNN.
Residents who reside below I-10 in the parish are at higher risk of flooding, Hoefer said.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said earlier tonight that the state is closing a section of I-10, the east-west interstate that connects much of the Gulf Coast.
Vice President Mike Pence spoke briefly about the hurricane tonight during his remarks at the Republican National Convention.
“Our prayers are with you tonight, and our administration is working closely with authorities in the states that will be impacted. FEMA has mobilized resources and supplies for those in harm’s way,” he said, addressing residents along the Gulf Coast who are in the hurricane’s path.
“This is a serious storm, and we urge all those in the affected areas to heed state and local authorities. Stay safe, and know that we’ll be with you every step of the way to support, rescue, response, and recover in the days and weeks ahead. That’s what Americans do.”
Watch:
Hurricane Laura is now closing in on the Northwest Gulf Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center’s updated advisory.
Here’s the latest:
Storm surge warnings, hurricane warnings and tropical storm warnings remain in place along the coast and inland, with the advisory warning, “This is a life-threatening situation.”
“All preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion in the next few hours,” the warning read.
As the outer bands of Hurricane Laura start to impact both Louisiana and Texas, power outages have already begun.
According to PowerOutage.US, there are over 13,000 customers without electricity in the states – 8,912 in Texas and 4,115 in Louisiana.
Those numbers are expected to increase throughout the night and early morning.
US Customs and Border Protection sent helicopters to the Gulf Coast earlier today to prepare for a potential recovery effort after Hurricane Laura blows through.
“Air and Marine Operations teams are staging aircraft for resupply, damage assessment, and rescue missions,” the agency said in a press release.
Two Black Hawk helicopters capable of hoist rescues arrived in Louisiana alongside a fixed-wing plane, and the agency says more aircraft are on the way.
Incident commanders are now on the ground in Houston, Texas, and Hammond, Louisiana. Field Operations and Border Patrol agents have also been pre-deployed to provide relief.
Hurricane Laura is only seven miles per hour away from becoming a Category 5 storm – and is already stronger than Hurricane Katrina, according to CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.
“It’s now in the top 10 of the greatest hurricanes to ever make landfall in the continental US,” Sater said. “This is going to really make an impact, and not just to the coastline, but well inland.”
Sater warned the hurricane’s winds – measuring up to 150 miles per hour – could destroy homes, buildings, hospitals, cut off power and damage businesses. Power outages could stretch from Houston all the way north through Little Rock, Arkansas, in the coming days.
Parts of the coast are already seeing storm surges of four feet, and that could increase to 15 or 20 feet when the storm makes landfall – about as high as the top of a second-story building, Sater said.
Watch:
In Cameron Parish, Louisiana, 150 residents have refused to leave during the mandatory evacuation order ahead of Hurricane Laura.
“Out of 6,500 residents, most got out,” said Ashley Buller, Assistant Director of Emergency Operations for the parish.
“We have a lot of construction workers on (liquefied natural gas) LNG projects,” Buller added. Most of these workers aren’t parish residents and live in travel trailers – some evacuated, but others stayed in the trailers.
Parish sheriff deputies went door-to-door to encourage people to leave.
Hurricane Laura would be the third major storm to strike Cameron Parish in the last 15 years, after Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike. Water is the main concern: Hurricane Ike caused huge flooding, and parish officials are bracing for Hurricane Laura to be even worse.
On Wednesday, billboards around Beaumont, Texas, were punctured to prepare for the strong wind Hurricane Laura is expected to bring to the area.
“I checked with our operations team, and they said that many of our billboard structures have what we call a hurricane frame, which is basically a panel-free frame,” said Allie McAlpin, Communications Director of Lamar Advertising, whose team is conducting the hurricane preparations.
“When we are getting ready for a hurricane, we try to remove the vinyls first. As time runs out, we cut the vinyl (which is what you were seeing), so the wind can blow through the structure.”
Hurricane Laura is continuing to strengthen on Wednesday evening, as it approaches the Louisiana coastline with winds up to 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane and could see some additional strengthening before making landfall in the next six to eight hours.
If Laura reaches 157 mph or greater, it will be a Category 5 hurricane. A Category 5 hurricane has never hit the coast of Louisiana.
Hear more:
Tropical storm-force-winds are beginning to push onshore in southern Louisiana and extreme southeastern Texas.
Heavy rainfall will also be beginning in coastal cities within the next couple of hours as conditions begin to rapidly deteriorate.
Landfall is still anticipated between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. ET.
Here’s the latest timeline for conditions in some key locations:
Beaumont and Port Arthur
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Galveston
Houston
Hardin County, Texas, Judge Wayne McDaniel ordered a curfew beginning tonight at 8 p.m. CT until 6 a.m. CT, ahead of Hurricane Laura, according to a Facebook post on the county emergency management page.
The city of Austin is offering shelter for evacuees from coastal communities due to Hurricane Laura.
The city has provided more than 1,078 hotel rooms for the over 3,000 evacuees coming from the coast, Mayor Steve Adler said in a news conference.
The city is also working to open a shelter at the convention center that will include Covid-19 precautions, such as social distancing, masks and personal protective equipment.
Austin is also working to secure additional hotel space, as the convention center can only shelter approximately 135 people to stay consistent to public health recommendations.
Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo signed a disaster declaration for the county today and warned that Hurricane Laura could cause “significant damage.”
“We will avoid a direct hit but that doesn’t mean that we’re avoiding potential consequences like power outages or the impacts of wind,” she said at a Houston news conference.
“We still do anticipate tropical storm winds in our county,” Hidalgo said, “which would cause significant damage – the possibility of downed trees, power lines, unsafe road conditions.”
She urged residents to “stay home and get off the roads no later than 8pm tonight.” Hidalgo also said now is the time to complete any last-minute preparations, such as clearing debris, bringing pets inside, and stocking up on supplies like food, water, flashlights, batteries, and fuel.
Hidalgo said the Harris County disaster declaration will “help us have additional flexibility to respond and recover.”
The Cameron Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness is warning residents of “life-threatening” flooding ahead of Hurricane Laura.
“Catastrophic and life-threatening flooding is expected not just at the coast but as far inland as the I-10 corridor of Southwest Louisiana,” the agency said on their Facebook page.
The agency cautioned that “Record river flooding is expected on the Calcasieu River in the Lake Charles area.”
The Grand Lake Bridge in Cameron Parish is closed to travelers.
About the storm: In the latest update, the National Hurricane Center said “sustained tropical-storm-force winds and steady heavy rains” were “beginning to spread onshore the Central Louisiana coast.”
Orange County, Texas, Emergency Management Coordinator Joel Ardoin told CNN that “a good portion” of the county has evacuated ahead of Hurricane Laura.
Ardoin said they’ve already experienced rain and his office will be ready to coordinate search and rescues once the storm passes.
Orange County is roughly 104 miles east of Houston.
Hurricane Laura is roughly five hours away from making landfall in Texas but that hasn’t stopped the storm from flooding parts of the coast.
Strong winds are pushing the waters off the Gulf of Mexico onshore in Port Bolivar, Texas.
Water levels are about 3 feet higher than normal, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Wilford Raney took the following video showing the scene in Port Bolivar this afternoon:
First responders in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, stood outside the sheriff’s office for a moment of prayers ahead of Hurricane Laura on Wednesday.
“Thank You Rev. Harris and Father O’Brien for your special blessings and prayers for the safety of our citizens, law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
Read the Facebook post here:
The National Hurricane Center warned this evening that water levels are expected to rise quickly.
“Low tide occurred along the northwestern Gulf coast within the past hour, and water levels are expected to rise quickly through the evening and overnight due to storm surge and the tide,” the National Hurricane Center said in an updated statement.
This means the “unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves” is imminent.
Houston is staying prepared, though the current track does not have Hurricane Laura directly hitting the city, Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a news conference.
Turner, along with other city leaders, said that the city should still expect a large rain and wind event from Laura.
Turner said they are still asking for residents to be off the streets by 8 p.m. local time tonight.
The city is not operating any emergency shelter at this time.
Covid-19 testing sites in the city are closed today and Thursday, according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management.
While Mississippi is not expected to be in the center of Hurricane Laura’s path, Mississippi Emergency Management Director Greg Michel warned today the state will see effects from the storm, including storm surges, flash flooding and potentially tornadoes.
“Mississippi is certainly not out of the woods,” Michel said at a news conference today. “We will be experiencing effects from this storm.”
Two lower-lying counties, Hancock and Harrison, are expecting 2-to-4 feet storm surges, and some areas could potentially see storm surges as high as 6 feet, according to Michel.
He said Hurricane Laura is currently following a storm track similar to the paths of Hurricane Rita and Katrina back in 2005, which resulted in tornado activity in Mississippi.
“So just a reminder, we could experience tornadoes in addition to the rainfall and the wind,” Michel said. “We certainly need to remain vigilant throughout this period of time.”
Michel said his state deployed a search and rescue team to stage in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, earlier today. He pledged Mississippi will to continue to send resources to their neighboring state, including National Guard aviation heavy-lift support and canine-supported search and rescue teams.
Laura is now the most powerful August hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico since Katrina 15 years ago.
Locales from Port Arthur, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana, will take a 150-mph hurricane directly head-on.
This is what to expect from a Category 4 storm
“Catastrophic damage” will occur when a Category 4 comes ashore, the National Hurricane Center said. “Well-built framed homes can sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls. Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”
In addition to the winds, impacts include more than a foot of rainfall for some, isolated tornadoes for others, and as the National Hurricane Center put it on Wednesday, an “unsurvivable storm surge” for many.
You hide from the wind but run from water. Mandatory evacuations have been issued for coastal residents in Laura’s path as a result of this dire storm surge scenario being forecast.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management warned residents of the potential of flash flooding due to Hurricane Laura that could affect the state.
“#HurricaneLaura is now a Cat 4 storm & will likely affect #ArWX over the next few days. Expect #FlashFlood to occur. Know what areas near you are likely to flood & have a plan. Never drive through flood waters,” the agency tweeted.
In a tweet, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be deploying teams to the state.
Read the governor’s tweet:
More than 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard and more than 1,000 members of the Texas National Guard are prepared to deploy to assist in efforts with Hurricane Laura, according to a news release from the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon.
During a call with reporters this afternoon, the Pentagon said the activation in Louisiana could grow to as high as 6,000 total depending on the impact of the storm.
“More than 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard are ready to provide support by land, water and air, strategically positioning 222 high water vehicles and 65 boats from southeastern Louisiana to southwestern Louisiana to provide search and rescue support. The Guard also has 19 Army aircraft prepared to assist,” the statement said. “In addition, 10 National Guard engineer assessment teams and seven engineer work teams are staged and ready to respond. Members of the 843rd Engineer Co. are working around the clock to assist local and state agencies in Grand Isle.”
In addition to the members of the Texas National Guard, the release said more than 20 aviation assets in Texas were ready to assist.
Hurricane Laura continues to strengthen this afternoon, with up to 145 mph sustained winds in the storm, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 5 p.m. advisory.
The storm is located 155 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and is moving northwest at 15 mph.
Landfall is expected shortly after midnight central time with top winds of 150 mph. This will make Laura a high-end Category 4 storm, only 7 mph away from a Category 5 storm.
Major flooding is expected across Lake Charles, Louisiana, beginning this afternoon and lasting through tomorrow morning, which is likely to topple a record from over 100 years ago.
The Calcasieu River, which runs through Lake Charles, is currently forecast to rise to 15.6 feet by tomorrow morning. This would surpass the previous record of 13 feet — which was set on Oct. 1, 1913. When the river reaches 13 feet, “over half of the city of Lake Charles is flooded,” according to data from the National Weather Service.
The river gauge is currently around 4.5 feet, meaning the water level is expected to rise by more than 10 feet by 7 a.m. CT tomorrow morning. The extreme rise in water level will result from the major storm surge from Hurricane Laura pushing up into the river, combined with rainfall totals expected to reach 10 inches.
The river level reached 11 feet in September 2008 when Hurricane Ike hit.
The National Hurricane Center today described the storm surge from Laura as “unsurvivable.”
The language is reminiscent of the dire warning issued in this part of the Gulf when Hurricane Ike, in 2008, threatened Galveston. At that time, the National Weather Service office in Houston advised those choosing to stay to write their social security numbers on their arms.
The water is already rising rapidly from the storm surge, well ahead of this dangerous hurricane.
You can see exactly how fast using this interactive map. Zoom into one of the glowing pin drops along the Gulf coast to see details.
Chris Cassidy, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, took photos of Hurricane Laura from the station.
The images show the massive storm churning in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Stay safe everyone,” he tweeted.
The city of Galveston, Texas, is prepared for Hurricane Laura, Mayor Pro Tem Craig Brown said in a news conference today.
Brown said there are no plans to put a checkpoint on the causeway to Galveston Island, but that could change depending on damage from the hurricane.
Crews will be out all night until it is unsafe to do so, and back out once the storm passes, he said.
Brown said even if power goes out, they hope to have residents back into the city as soon as Thursday morning, depending on how hard they get hit.
For those who did not heed the evacuation order, emergency services might not be able to get to them if they were to need assistance during the storm, he said.
A curfew is in effect for Wednesday and Thursday from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night, Brown said.
A tornado watch has been issued for much of Louisiana and far southeastern Texas on Wednesday afternoon by the Storm Prediction Center.
The watch is in effect until 9 p.m. CT and stretches from New Orleans in the east to just west of Beaumont and Port Arthur.
Some context: The outer bands of Hurricane Laura are bringing a risk of tornadoes to a wide area, and that risk will likely persist even after the watch is due to expire.
Tornadoes are common in landfalling hurricanes and tropical storms, especially when the storms are making landfall along the Gulf of Mexico. They are often short-lived and can spin-up very quickly with little warning
Water levels along the coast of Louisiana are rising rapidly on Wednesday afternoon as dangerous Hurricane Laura approaches. Water levels at several locations along the central and western coastline of Louisiana are running three to four feet above normal tidal levels, despite the center of the hurricane being nearly 150 miles south.
Eugene Island, located south of Morgan City, Louisiana, is reporting 3.2 feet of inundation above ground level, and wind gusts over 40 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Conditions will continue to deteriorate through the afternoon and especially during the evening, with tropical storm-force-winds becoming widespread between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET and hurricane-force winds around midnight ET and lasting through to around daybreak.
Water levels will rise rapidly later this evening as well, likely peaking in the early morning hours.
NOAA hurricane hunter Nick Underwood captured video of the crew making one of five passes over Hurricane Laura on Wednesday.
“Central pressure dropped and wind speeds increased with each pass,” Underwood wrote on Twitter.
He also shared a time-lapse video of the crew’s fifth pass over Hurricane Laura.
Read his tweet and see the footage:
In addition to catastrophic storm surge, damaging winds and heavy rain, Laura will also likely produce several tornadoes and waterspouts.
“Hurricanes and tropical storms that make landfall in the Gulf of Mexico are more likely to produce tornadoes compared to storms in the Atlantic,” explains Brandon Miller, CNN meteorologist.
But remember: Not all coastlines on the Gulf of Mexico are equally threatened.
“Note that this is less true for Texas landfalls in the Gulf — since the coastline angles more south to north like the Atlantic East Coast, rather than east to west like in the northern Gulf of Mexico coastline of LA/MS/AL/FL Panhandle,” Miller clarified.
In other words, a tropical system that landfalls in Louisiana, which looks likely for Laura, could produce a few more tornadoes than a landfall in say, Galveston, Texas.
Jefferson County, Texas, is imposing a curfew from 11 p.m. ET to 7 a.m. ET, according to the county’s Office of Emergency Management.
“During this curfew it will be unlawful for any person to be outside the confines of his residence, property or exempt areas,” the curfew order by County Judge Jeff Branick says.
Portions of Jefferson County are already under mandatory evacuation orders.
The Emergency office warned residents: “A mandatory evacuation has been called. First responders will NOT be able to reach you for emergencies during the storm. Efforts to help after the storm will be severely limited.”
If you’re affected by Hurricane Laura, CNN wants to hear your stories.
When it’s safe, text, iMessage or WhatsApp your stories to CNN at 347-322-0415.
The small number of residents on Bolivar Peninsula in Texas were again warned to evacuate by Galveston County Judge Mark Henry.
The judge said he was aware of about 40 residents that would be riding out the storm on the peninsula.
At a news conference, Henry said that it appeared that the worst will not hit his county, but he did warn that Bolivar Peninsula will likely be without power for days.
Galveston County is located southeast of Houston, Texas. It has a population of over 340,000.
Hurricane Laura about 190 south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
As Hurricane Laura closes in on the US, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is keeping a close eye on a total of 689 floodgates along their coastal zone.
As of this morning, at least 410 gates were closed, according to a post on the agency’s Facebook page.
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has spent several days closing pumps, sandbagging and re-enforcing gaps along waterways to get ahead of the storm.
The American Red Cross has deployed more than 600 disaster workers and sheltered more than 5,000 people last night, the group said in a release.
“Over the past few days our volunteers have been working tirelessly to position supplies and shelter teams across the state,” American Red Cross Louisiana Regional Executive Joshua Joachim said in a release. “As the storms shift, we shift with them and remain prepared to meet the immediate needs of those impacted across Louisiana.”
The Red Cross told CNN yesterday that more than 700 workers were ready to respond. A spokesperson for the group says that the reason for the change was due to the new storm track, and that the number of workers in Louisiana and Texas remained the same.
Starting the day, Laura was a Category 1 hurricane. It has now exploded into an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm.
The storm had winds of 90 mph late Tuesday night, according to the 11 p.m. ET update. Laura did hit category 2 until the 2 a.m. ET update this morning.
Now, it is packing sustained winds of 140 mph with higher gusts.
That is an increase of 50 mph in 15 hours.
Hurricane Laura, now a dangerous Category 4 storm, is heading toward the US Gulf Coast.
Right now, the storm is forecast to keep its Category 4 strength when it makes landfall after midnight tonight, near the Texas and Louisiana border.
Laura is forecast to travel northward, along the Texas-Louisiana border before turning slightly and traveling northeastward through Arkansas.
Here’s a look at the hurricane’s projected path:
Watch:
Hurricane Laura just strengthened into a Category 4 as it churns in the Gulf of Mexico.
Meteorologists use the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to measure a hurricane’s strength. The scale also estimates potential property damage.
Storms reaching Category 3 and higher are considered substantial hurricanes “because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage,” the National Hurricane Center writes.
The system divides storms into five categories:
Hurricane Laura has strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. It now has maximum sustained winds of up to 140 mph.
The full Louisiana National Guard has been activated ahead of Hurricane Laura’s landfall, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced at a press conference today. He said the last time the state had activated the full guard was for Hurricane Issac in 2012.
“We need everyone in southwest Louisiana paying close attention to this storm,“ Gov. Edwards said. “People need to heed the warnings they have been given and evacuate” he added. He called the expected storm surge un-survivable in some Parishes in the path of the storm.
“We do believe that there will be extensive search and rescue after this storm,” Edwards said, thus part of the reason for activation of the full guard.
The governor said that more than 3,000 members of the guard are currently deployed, with that number to increase this afternoon. In addition to the personnel, 19 aircraft, 920,000 liters of water and more than half a million meals have been pre-deployed, Edwards added.
About 2,000 hotel rooms had been secured this evening to help shelter people as a result of the storm and to also help with social distancing, Edwards said.
All commercial traffic along I-10 is being detoured north from I-10 to I-20, Shawn Wilson commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Transportation said at a press conference.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said winds could be the biggest threat from Hurricane Laura.
“The storm surge is also a big problem — with 10 to 15 feet storm surge around the Jefferson County area, we should expect some flash floods in various regions where the storm will be going through, and those flash floods could spill into rivers and the rivers could overflow,” Abbott said during a Wednesday afternoon presser.
Abbott warned that “the one river that we do anticipate having the greatest challenge is the Sabine River,” which is along the Texas and Louisiana border.
Abbott said there will be a roughly 24-hour period where “there will be no ability for rescuers or operators to get in and assist you in any way.”
On Wednesday, Abbott added Camp, Ellis and Tarrant counties to the disaster declaration which was already in place from earlier this week. Ellis and Tarrant are housing many evacuees from the coastal areas he said.
A mandatory evacuation order for several areas and a curfew order are now in place in Vermilion Parish in Louisiana.
The following areas are under a mandatory evacuation order, according to posts on the Vermilion Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Facebook page:
A curfew will be parish-wide starting at 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. local time.
The parish anticipates a storm surge from Hurricane Laura from 12 to 18 feet, officials said on Facebook.
When Laura makes landfall, the storm will bring with it an “unsurvivable storm surge,” the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.
Here are some important things to know about here:
Read more here on why coastal communities should fear storm surge.
CNN’s Brandon Miller, Gene Norman, Judson Jones and Emily Smith contributed to this report.
The full Louisiana National Guard has been activated ahead of Hurricane Laura’s landfall, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced at a press conference.
He called the expected storm surge unsurvivable in some parishes in the path of the storm.
Gov. Bel Edwards: Storm surge flooding is starting right now in Louisiana
Major flooding is expected across Lake Charles, Louisiana, beginning this afternoon and lasting through tomorrow morning.
The Calcasieu River, which runs through Lake Charles, is currently forecast to rise to 15.6 feet by tomorrow morning. If this forecast plays out, it will surpass the previous record of 13.0 feet — which was set on Oct. 1, 1913 — by more than 2 feet.
At 13.0 feet, “Over half of the city of Lake Charles is flooded,” according to the National Weather Service.
Since the city has never seen more than 13.0 feet of water along this river in recorded history, there is no way to know how widespread flooding of more than 15.0 feet could be.
Hurricane Ike, in 2008, brought the water levels here to 11 feet during its storm surge, inundating numerous homes.
The Calcasieu River connects directly to the Gulf of Mexico, just west of Cameron, Louisiana.
Cameron, Louisiana, is forecast to see an “unsurvivable” storm surge of 15 to 20 feet. This storm surge is then forecast to push up the river, directly impacting cities such as Lake Charles.
“This surge could penetrate up to 30 miles inland from the immediate coastline” warns the National Hurricane Center.
This flooding will occur extremely quickly, a 12-foot rise in just 18 hours, as the storm surge arrives in conjunction with high tide. Having the storm surge coinciding with the high tide is a worst-case scenario.
President Trump encouraged those in Hurricane Laura’s path to listen to local officials as the storm barrels toward the Gulf Coast.
“Hurricane Laura is a very dangerous and rapidly intensifying hurricane,” he tweeted today.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh was unable to say whether night three of the Republican National Convention would be impacted by the storm or whether it would figure into the messaging.
“I have not seen the final draft of remarks. I know that the President and the White House is of course on top of the situation regarding the storms. And that’s, probably, to talk about moment to moment what is happening there, that’s a question better aimed at the White House,” he told reporters on a briefing call when asked how the storm would be addressed in tonight’s program.
Calcasieu Parish Louisiana officials urged residents to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Laura, cautioning that this storm could be bad.
“We expect a catastrophic event from this storm,” Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said during a press conference.
The parish issued a mandatory evacuation order yesterday, and the county said more than 600 people have used county provided buses to evacuate the Parish.
The parish is home to over 200,000 residents along the Texas state line.
Hurricane Laura, a Category 3 storm, continues to barrel toward the Gulf coastlines of Texas and Louisiana.
If you’re just joining us, here’s where things stand now:
Some areas in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, are already seeing rising water as Hurricane Laura closes in on Louisiana and Texas.
“LA 1 remains closed at this time south of the Leon Theriot Lock in Golden Meadow,” the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page.
The parish posted photos in the area from Golden Meadow and Leeville.
The National Hurricane Center is set to release its next forecast advisory on Hurricane Laura at 2 p.m. ET today.
It’s last advisory, at 11 a.m. ET, said the storm is still a Category 3, but it is expected to intensify to a category 4 before it makes landfall along the Texas and Louisiana coastlines.
You can track the storm here, and here’s a look at Laura’s latest predicted path:
Galveston County, Texas, Judge Mark Henry says that the majority of residents and vacationers have followed mandatory evacuation orders, but strongly encourages anyone remaining to evacuate.
While Hurricane Laura has shifted slightly eastward and away from the island, Galveston County is warning its residents they could see 100 mph winds later today, with tides four feet above normal.
“Our biggest concern is that this is a powerful storm and hurricanes are notorious for making last-minute changes that no one predicted, and we have very little time to react should that happen now,” Henry said in an interview with CNN’s Kate Bolduan.
Galveston Emergency Management Coordinator Mark Morgan told CNN that the city evacuated 300 people with about 20 busloads on Tuesday to various cities on the mainland, but the city has ceased operations due to inclement weather.
The city’s population of 47,000 people typically swells to 200,000 in the summer, and most have followed orders to leave, Morgan said. Prep efforts have largely come to a standstill and local authorities are mostly just patrolling the streets at this point.
“We’re in good shape and ready to ride it out,” Morgan said, though they are keeping a close eye on the storm in case it shifts west. “We hope that it stays on the same track, but there’s always that uncertainty.”
Hear more:
Tyler County, Texas, has issued a mandatory evacuation ahead of Hurricane Laura’s arrival, according to the order posed on the county’s emergency management Facebook page.
The county is located north of Beaumont, Texas, with a population of around 22,000.
Prisoners in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, are being evacuated ahead of Hurricane Laura, according to a Facebook post by the sheriff’s department.
“The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office began evacuating all prisoners, over 900, due to the threat of Hurricane Laura. The prisoners will be housed in various facilities throughout the state and will be brought back as soon as conditions are safe,” the post said, adding that the evacuations started on Tuesday.
Administrative offices for the sheriff, tax office and other departments are closed as the area prepares for the potentially destructive storm to hit. Patrol and other emergency operations are still up in running, the statement says.
The county will implement a dusk-to-dawn curfew tonight.
Sheriff Tony Mancuso told residents that looting and destruction of property “will not be tolerated.”
The jail will remain operational for anyone who commits a major crime, as well as anyone destroying property or looting in Calcasieu Parish,” he said.
The Home Depot is surging more than 250 staff and 230 additional trucks of supplies to the Gulf Coast ahead of Hurricane Laura, the company said in a release.
“Our associates are vital to helping our communities brace for this approaching storm and we’re extremely grateful for their hard work,” Hector Padilla, president of the southern division of the Home Depot, said in a release
Trucks shipped in the the area were filled with water, tarps, batteries and flashlights the company said.
The company said that due to Covid-19, its Hurricane Command Center will be virtual.
Archie Chaisson, the president of Louisiana’s Lafourche Parish, said he took photos of water overtopping Louisiana Highway 1 south of the Golden Meadow Floodgates.
Chaisson says there’s a mandatory evacuation notice posted in Lafourche Parish for the area south of the Golden Meadow Floodgates.
CNN Weather’s Haley Brink says the storm surge forecast for this area is between 4 and 7 feet.
Fort Bend County Judge KP George signed a disaster declaration ahead of the Hurricane Laura’s landfall, he announced at a press conference this morning.
County officials urged citizens to stay off roads in the county as people that are closer to the path of the storm use the roads to evacuate.
The judge also announced that he will wave tolls on roads in the county. Officials called their county a “pass thru county” as people move farther away from the path of the storm.
Fort Bend County is just southwest of Houston.
Hurricane Laura currently has winds of 125 mph, which makes it a high-end Category 3.
Laura is forecast to become an extremely dangerous Category 4 later today, with winds expected to reach 145 mph when it reaches the coast later tonight, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
Laura has gone through a period of rapid intensification, which is likely not over. The NHC warns of “unsurvivable” storm surge of up to 20 feet in parts of Louisiana.
Landfall is still expected between midnight and 4 a.m. local time near the Texas and Louisiana border.
See the latest from CNN:
The state of Louisiana is actively transporting residents out of its coastal areas as Hurricane Laura looms in the gulf.
Mike Steele, Communications Director at Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for the State of Louisiana, told CNN’s Leyla Santiago, “What’s being done on a state level, instead of picking them up and taking them to state operated shelters, they’re being picked up and taken to hotel rooms because of Covid concerns.”
As of this morning, the state of Louisiana has assisted in transporting 892 individuals to hotels for evacuation. It is important to note that this figure does not include evacuations that local parishes handled on their own or residents who evacuated with no assistance.
“For people that have specific transportation needs that requested assistance from their local officials, right now 892 people have been assisted with their evacuation in coordination with the parish and the state,” Steele said.
The state is currently having discussions with additional hotels, in the case capacity needs to be expanded. Louisiana anticipates they will continue to carry out transportations until the early afternoon today, as road conditions are expected to deteriorate as the storm approaches.
The state has teams of FEMA on the ground and an incident support team from Oklahoma, Steele said.
The National Hurricane Center is warning that Hurricane Laura could bring “unsurvivable” storm surge to parts of the US Gulf Coast
“Unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, including Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes,” the center said in its 11 a.m. ET update.
And it’s not just people on the gulf who should be preparing: The latest advisory said the surge could “penetrate up to 30 miles inland from the immediate coastline.
“Only a few hours remain to protect life and property and all actions should be rushed to completion,” the center urged.
Here’s a look at the latest forecast path:
Hurricane Laura is still a Category 3 storm — but according to the National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. ET advisory, the storm “continues to rapidly strengthen and it is expected to become an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane.”
The Center warned that there’s “only a few hours remain to protect life and property.”
The storm is in the Gulf of Mexico, heading toward the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. It’s expected to make landfall late tonight or early tomorrow.
Hurricane Laura is in the Gulf of Mexico, heading toward the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. The storm rapidly intensified overnight, and it could now be a Category 4 storm before it makes landfall.
Satellites captured images of the storm as the sun rose over the Gulf Coast this morning. The hurricane got more visible as dawn turned to daylight.
Here’s a look:
Wayne McDaniel, the judge of Hardin County, Texas, is warning his residents to consider evacuating now ahead of Hurricane Laura.
“There will be many days that electrical power will not be available, possibly weeks. There will be trees down all over the county. There will be trees on houses. There will be houses destroyed. There will be mobile homes turned over,” McDaniel said in a video posted on Facebook.
Hardin County — just northwest of Beaumont, Texas — is under a mandatory evacuation order.
Despite the order, McDaniel said many people are staying behind.
“I’m asking you to please consider leaving, evacuating out of this county, well to our north or northwest and getting out of harm’s way,” he added.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards warned his state that people “only have a few hours to prepare” head of Hurricane Laura.
“Wherever you are by noon (local) is where you’ll have to ride out the storm. ” he tweeted this morning
The Louisiana Department of Health also urged citizens to keep Covid-19 in mind as they evacuate.
“Wear a mask and keep distance from those outside of your family when possible,” the agency tweeted. If staying with friends and family, “talk to them in advance about how can best protect yourself from COVID-19,” the department added.
Here’s the governor’s tweet:
Evacuations ahead of Hurricane Laura began yesterday in parts of Texas. Tuesday also marked on the third anniversary of Hurricane Harvey hitting the state.
Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday noted that there were more evacuations announced than before Hurricane Harvey struck.
Houston is the largest city in the region. It is particularly vulnerable to flooding and could see big impacts from Laura.
The concrete-filled city has notoriously poor drainage systems and a propensity to flood, such as during the overwhelming rainfall from Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Today, mandatory evacuations in Jasper and Hardin Counties fall just north of Beaumont, Texas, which was hard-hit during Harvey.
One of the main concerns facing residents on the Gulf Coast is what the National Hurricane Center is calling “potentially catastrophic storm surge.”
Storm surge is the rise in sea level during a big storm. It is measured as the height of the water above what the normal predicted astronomical tide would be. This GIF helps explain it:
Storm Surge warnings ahead of Hurricane Laura: National Hurricane Center forecasters warned of “life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds” for parts of the Gulf Coast.
Storm surge warnings have been issued from Freeport, Texas, to the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Storm surge warnings are issued when there is a danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline during the next 36 hours, the National Hurricane Center says.
Surge is already beginning and will continue to get higher the closer to landfall. Here are the surge forecast heights:
Storm surge is not just a concern for coastal cities: “This storm surge could penetrate up to 30 miles inland from the immediate coastline in southwestern Louisiana and far southeastern Texas,” the National Hurricane Center said.
This means it could even approach I-10 near Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Even for a city as far away as New Orleans, the metro area is forecast to have a storm surge between 2 and 4 feet.
New Orleans is especially at risk because it is essentially shaped like a bowl. Thanks to the drainage system they have set up, the city can act like a colander allowing water to flow out. Still, when it rains a lot in a short period of time, the drainage system can become overwhelmed, and that colander acts more like a bowl and floods the city.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo signed a disaster declaration for her county ahead of Hurricane Laura, according to a tweet from her office.
The preemptive declaration allows the county “to have the maximum flexibility needed to respond and recover from Laura,” the tweet says.
Harris County is Texas’ largest county, with a population of more than four million people.
Here’s the tweet:
National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham described Hurricane Laura’s possible effects as “life-threatening” and “catastrophic.”
Graham said storm surge could be “huge,” and he urged people in the storm’s path to follow any evacuation orders.
Watch more:
Hurricane Laura is heading toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts today.
The storm, currently a Category 3, is forecast to make landfall late tonight or early tomorrow — but some cities will begin to feel Laura’s winds before landfall.
Here’s when cities along the Gulf Coast can expect to feel impacts from Hurricane Laura.
Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Galveston, Texas
Houston, Texas
CNN’s Derek Van Dam is in Beaumont, Texas, this morning, where parts of the city are under mandatory evacuations as Hurricane Laura heads toward the US Gulf Coast.
The storm rapidly intensified overnight, and it could now be a Category 4 storm before it makes landfall. People in Beaumont “recognize the dangers,” and are preparing for the storm now, Van Dam said.
“They know that this is not the same storm that they went to bed with last night,” he said.
Currently, it’s sunny in the Texas city — but that will change as the day progresses.
Watch more:
Laura increased 45 mph in the 24 hours between 8 a.m. ET Tuesday and 8 a.m. ET Wednesday, more than meeting the threshold for “rapid intensification.”
The term rapid intensification means that a tropical system has seen an increase of winds of at least 35 mph in 24 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Another sign of strengthening in a storm is a pressure drop. Meteorologists often look for this to determine if a storm is continuing to strengthen or beginning to weaken. During that same time (8 a.m. Tuesday to 8 a.m. Wednesday) Laura saw a pressure drop of 28mb, further showing signs of strengthening.
The last major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico to undergo rapid intensification was Hurricane Michael in 2018. That storm increased 46 mph in 24 hours as it approached the Florida Panhandle.
See the latest:
About 1,554,500 people are under some type of evacuation order across Texas and Louisiana due to Hurricane Laura.
There are mandatory evacuations in the following Texas counties and areas:
There are voluntary orders in these Texas areas:
There are mandatory evacuations in the following Louisiana parishes:
There are voluntary orders in these parishes:
Hurricane Laura is in the Gulf of Mexico heading toward Texas and Louisiana today — but earlier this week, the storm killed at least nine people in the Caribbean.
Deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The victims include a 7-year-old boy who died along with his mother after a wall collapsed in their home in the Dominican Republic. Another person died after a tree fell on a house.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader said an army corporal was killed while helping with rescue efforts in Pedernales province.
Five people were killed in Haiti, including a 10-year-old girl, the country’s civil protection agency said.
Hurricane Laura strengthened into a Category 3 storm this morning. It’s heading northwest ward, toward the Texas and Louisiana coastlines.
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite captured images of Laura traveling through the Gulf of Mexico this morning. You can see bursts of lighting in the middle of the storm.
Take a look:
Shelters in Texas will be stocked with personal protective equipment, will use social distancing to separate people and will have Covid-19 testing available, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news conference yesterday as the state prepared for Hurricane Laura.
Abbott recommended that residents who need to evacuate go to hotels or motels if possible — but he said that shelters will be ready and available if needed.
As the state prepares for Hurricane Laura, it is still reporting thousands of new coronavirus cases each day. Here’s a look at new daily cases in the state.
If you’re in Hurricane Laura’s predicted path and preparing for the storm, CNN wants to hear from you.
You can send your videos, photos and stories to the number below.
Hurricane Laura is a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 8 a.m. ET advisory.
Here’s a look at the latest predicted path from the National Hurricane Center:
Hurricane Laura’s winds have increased to 115 mph, and the storm is now a Category 3 hurricane according to the advisory just in from the National Hurricane Center.
Laura has been rapidly intensifying overnight and will likely continue to strengthen. Laura is forecast to become an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm today before making landfall tonight near the Texas and Louisiana border as a major hurricane.
About the categories: Meteorologists use the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to measure a hurricane’s strength. The scale also estimates potential property damage.
Storms reaching Category 3 and higher are considered substantial hurricanes “because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage,” the National Hurricane Center writes.
The system divides storms into five categories:
