Hurricane Laura Causes Flash Flooding In Louisiana

In the US state of Louisiana, flash flooding due to Hurricane Laura has caused landfall near Lake Charles, and hundreds of households were destroyed along with loss of power in tens of thousands of homes. The weather forecasters have warned the residents regarding the storm before it hit the coast. According to the region’s forecast, a category four storm was expected to hit the coastline with the wind speed up to 150mph, as it threatens to cause an impossible storm surge. This hurricane Laura has become one of the strongest thunderstorms to have hit the United States Gulf Coast.

Catastrophic nature of Hurricane Laura

Due to the destructive nature of Hurricane Laura, around half a million residents in certain areas of Louisiana and Texas are being told to evacuate to prevent loss of lives. Due to strong winds more than 130 mph, Hurricane Laura has also made landfall near the Cameron district in Louisiana at around midnight local time. According to the National Weather Service that by 4:00 am, the storm calmed down to a category three.

Since then, Hurricane Laura has been downgraded to category two, and it is expected to further downgrade over the weekend. This unsurvivable surge of the storm has the ability to penetrate up to 40 miles inland from the coastline of the United States, along with flooding that will not completely recede for multiple days.

Due to Hurricane Laura, more than 390,000 houses in the city of Louisiana have suffered from a power outage for several hours in the early morning on Thursday. In the city of Texas, more than 100,000 houses were reportedly lost power for multiple hours. The National Hurricane Center has also warned the residents that have remained in areas that are expected to be hit by Hurricane Laura to take immediate action to protect their lives, including the formation of reinforced rooms inside the house away from any windows for protection against the storm.

Some of the precautionary measures to follow during a storm surge include getting under any sturdy piece of furniture while covering the head and body with pillows, blankets, or mattresses to prevent any injury to vital organs.

The recorded video footage during Hurricane Laura has shown strong winds and heavy rainfall lashing at the coastline city of Lake Charles, which is located in the South-west region of Louisiana. During the destructive storm, multiple buildings have also been reportedly damaged, while numerous trees have been completely ripped out of the ground. Before Hurricane Laura, another storm named Marco has earlier swept across the Caribbean due to which 24 individuals died. On Monday, Hurricane Marco struck the city of Louisiana, bringing heavy rainfall along with catastrophic winds. While Hurricane Laura rapidly became strengthened into category four, it rapidly downgraded as it reached Louisiana.

Expectations from Hurricane Laura

According to the National Hurricane Center, the satellite image of Hurricane Laura has shown remarkable rapid intensification to have converted into a formidable storm. NHC posted a series of tweets in which they warned regarding life-threatening possibilities over several parts of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

During the storm, trees in the area are most likely to be uprooted, intensive damage to houses, and unavailability of water and electricity for several days. The high-speed winds of Hurricane Laura are also expected to enter inland in the region of western Louisiana and eastern Texas on early Thursday. Governor Abbott has urged the residents that are in the path of the hurricane to take shelter as soon as possible in the final hours of evacuation as the strength of Hurricane Laura is unpredictable, and citizens of Texas must take immediate action to protect them from harm’s way.

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