Texas Governor Greg Abbott urged residents on the coast of southeast Texas to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Laura and warned that rescue efforts during the storm will be all but impossible, CBS affiliate KHOU reports.Ībbott said residents should expect a lockdown from 7 p.m. Some of them will, others will not - and some will be to a lesser degree," Jeffery said. "We don't want to mislead and suggest that all of these homes will be affected. The estimate is a worst-case-scenario of sorts that takes into account the uncertainty of predicting hurricane movements and strengths. To be sure, Hurricane Laura, no matter how powerful a storm it becomes, is not expected to destroy all 600,000 homes in its path. Tom Jeffery, senior hazard scientist at CoreLogic. When we total up all the potential locations that could be impacted, clearly it's a huge number," said Dr. "We don't know exactly where the storm will make landfall, and storm surge from the eye can vary, so we identify all structures within the watch area. The estimate reflects expected damage from the hurricane's storm surge - the abnormal rise of water above usual tide movements. Nearly 600,000 single-family and multifamily homes, which would cost roughly $125 billion to rebuild if destroyed, are within the hurricane's projected reach, according to a report from CoreLogic, a provider of global property information and analysis. Hurricane Laura threatens to destroy hundreds of thousands of homes along the Texas and Louisiana coasts, possibly inflicting billions of dollars' worth of damage on the at-risk areas' residences. From 1963 to 2012, 75% of hurricane deaths were caused by storm surge and rain flooding. Most often water is not only more damaging but also more deadly than wind in hurricanes. While the increase in winds is partly responsible for greater damage, the rising waters of the storm surge tend to be much more damaging and deadly in most hurricanes.
And that just takes into account the wind it does not consider the impacts of water damage, which is usually even more of a worry. Although the 150 mph wind speed is double, the damage potential is not just double - it is an astounding 256 times greater. But what determines how much devastation a hurricane produces, and what hazards cause the most damage, varies from storm to storm.Ĭompare a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 mph and a storm like Laura, which is forecast to have winds near 150 mph at landfall. Hurricane Laura is now forecast to be the strongest storm to ever make landfall along the western Louisiana and north Texas coast, with winds of 145 mph and storm surge of up to 20 feet. Hurricane Laura as seen from satellite at 5:41 a.m. At least 20 million people were in its path and almost 600,000 were ordered to evacuate. Laura was expected to be the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. Laura is expected to continue across Louisiana through Wednesday afternoon, move over Arkansas Wednesday night, the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday and the mid-Atlantic states on Saturday. and moving north at 15 mph over southwestern Louisiana. Laura was about 30 miles north-northwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and 50 miles northeast of Port Arthur, Texas, at 5 a.m. And it's likely to be a tropical storm before the day is out, the hurricane center said. EDT, the storm was packing 105 mph winds, making it a Category 2 hurricane. The storm intensified rapidly into a Category 4 hurricane as it barreled toward the Louisiana and Texas coasts with ferocious 150 mph maximum sustained winds.īut they were following forecasters' expectations and rapidly diminishing after Laura hit land.
"Extremely dangerous" Hurricane Laura made landfall early Thursday near Cameron, Louisiana, bringing a "catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding" to portions of the state, the National Hurricane Center said. Follow Thursday's live blog here for the latest updates on Hurricane Laura.
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