Laura was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday afternoon, after making landfall in Louisiana near the Texas border overnight as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph.
That made Laura the most intense hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana in 164 years, since what was called the Last Island Storm in 1856. It is also tied for the strongest hurricane on record to ever hit the state. The storm surge topped 10 feet in parts of western Louisiana, far less than the maximum prediction of 15-20 feet. The highest water levels were seen to the right of the storm's center, over a wildlife refuge area, sparing the more densely populated areas in the region.
East Texas was able to avoid the worst of the hurricane, which is still moving north through Louisiana. The storm now has winds around 70 mph and is forecast to reach Arkansas later in the day as it turns into a rainstorm. A fatality has been reported two hours north of Lake Charles, where a teenager died after a tree fell on her home.
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Trump says he will survey hurricane damage over the weekend
President Trump said in a FEMA briefing Thursday that he will likely survey the damage from Hurricane Laura over the weekend.
Trump said he considered delaying his acceptance speech at the RNC on Thursday evening, depending on the severity of the storm, but will go forward with the original convention plans.
“It turned out we got a little bit lucky, it was very big, it was very powerful, but it passed quickly, so everything is on schedule," Trump said.
800 Red Cross workers mobilized to help hurricane victims
The Red Cross has mobilized 800 disaster workers to help people affected by Hurricane Laura, the organization said Thursday.
The group has "pre-positioned shelter and relief supplies along the Gulf Coast, and additional workers are standing by if needed," they said in a statement, adding they are providing personal protective equipment at shelter to protect those fleeing from COVID-19.
The Red Cross says they have workers in Arkansas on standby as Laura, now a tropical storm, travels north towards Little Rock.
Floating casino rams into major interstate in Louisiana
A floating casino on the Calcasieu River in Louisiana broke loose from its moorings and rammed into the Interstate 10 bridge on Thursday.
The Lake Charles Isle of Capri Casino Barge came loose and drifted along the river before getting caught against one of the supports under the I-10, the Louisiana State Police confirmed to NBC News.
No injuries had been reported as of 2 p.m. ET.
The I-10 interstate connects Houston to New Orleans. The bridge can be avoided by taking a bypass along interstate 210.
Louisiana state law requires that all casinos be located on the water. However, the casino barges are allowed to remain docked.
The casino boat crash occurred mere miles away from the chemical plant fire at Westlake, where burning of chemical gas has forced nearby residents to shelter in place.
Homes affected by downed trees as Hurricane Laura strikes Louisiana
Aug. 27, 202002:03Hurricane Laura downgraded to tropical storm
Hurricane Laura was downgraded again Thursday to a tropical storm, with wind speeds decreasing to 70 mph as it moved farther inland.
The storm, which made landfall early Thursday at maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, still has the potential for damaging winds as it moves over central and northern Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service. Flooding rainfall also remains a risk as the storm moves.
Hurricane Laura hit the Gulf Coast overnight at a Category 4 but was downgraded earlier in the day to a Category 1, as it left the warm waters into the southern region.
The agency said Thursday afternoon that it would stop hourly updates as the storm's intensity swiftly dwindles.
Lake Charles chemical fire puts residents on lockdown
Louisiana State Police have issued a shelter in place advisory after a chemical fire erupted at a manufacturing plant in Westlake. The facility is near Lake Charles, where Hurricane Laura has caused significant damage.
The fire at BioLab was burning chlorine gas, producing thick clouds of smoke that filled the sky. No injuries or deaths have been reported so far.
Gov. John Bel Edwards tweeted that residents should shelter in place, lock their doors, close their windows and turn off their air conditioners until further notice.
The chemical fire comes after the Category 4 storm ripped through Southwest Louisiana with 150 mph winds. Officials are still surveying the extent of the damage brought by the storm.
2 more killed by fallen in trees in Louisiana
Hurricane Laura's death toll rose to three Thursday afternoon after officials reported two more people who were killed by fallen trees in Louisiana.
One man died in Acadia Parish and another in Jackson Parish after trees fell on their homes, according to the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness.
A teenage girl was previously reported to have died under similar circumstances in Vernon Parish.
Hurricanes have gotten more destructive. Here's why.
A destructive storm is rising from warm waters. Again.
America and the world are getting more frequent and bigger multibillion dollar tropical catastrophes like Hurricane Laura, which is menacing the U.S. Gulf Coast, because of a combination of increased coastal development, natural climate cycles, reductions in air pollution and man-made climate change, experts say.
The list of recent whoppers keeps growing: Harvey, Irma, Maria, Florence, Michael, Dorian. And hurricane experts have no doubt that Laura will be right there with them.
Ready the full story here.
Photos: Surveying the damage
Laura prompts soul searching in Houston
HOUSTON — For a few nerve-wracking days, it appeared that Houston’s worst nightmare might come true: a powerful Category 4 hurricane barreling toward the nation’s fourth largest city — in the midst of a deadly pandemic, no less.
For years, experts have warned that such a storm would devastate the city, destroying tens of thousands of homes, knocking out power for weeks or months, and unleashing an unprecedented environmental disaster in the nation’s petrochemical capital.
Houston officials breathed a sigh of relief after Hurricane Laura turned east. Now they’re calling for federal action.
At a news conference Wednesday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Laura should be a wake-up call.
He and other local officials are calling on Congress to allocate $30 billion to build a series of coastal barriers — an idea known locally as “the Ike Dike,” in honor of the 2008 hurricane that fell well short of that worst-case scenario, but still rocked the region.
The goal of the project is to shield the Houston region from the worst effects of a massive hurricane, saving lives and preventing a potential economic catastrophe in Texas.
“Quite frankly, we need it yesterday,” Turner said. “We’re running out of lives, so to speak.”
