Hurricane Laura left extensive property damage, a hazardous chemical fire and at least six people dead in Louisiana.
Hurricane Laura, after unleashing extensive damage in Louisiana, is now moving eastward as a tropical depression through Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama as forecasters warn of more dangerous weather over the weekend. The hurricane left property damage, a hazardous chemical fire and at least six people dead in Louisiana on Thursday before moving north later in the night through Arkansas. Though the extent of the storm’s destruction is not clear, Louisiana and Texas officials signaled that the damage is less catastrophic than anticipated. Packing 150 mph wind, Laura was the most powerful hurricane to strike Louisiana, surpassing even Katrina, a Category 3 storm that devastated the state in 2005. The day before Laura tore through Louisiana, authorities issued dire warnings that prompted more than a half-million people to evacuate in both states. Despite Laura hitting the land with such force, its forecast storm surge — expected to be « unsurvivable » at up to 20 feet high — ended up being about half as high in Louisiana. Forecasters said this was due in part to the storm moving quickly. « It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute catastrophic damage that we thought was likely based on the forecast that we had last night, » Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday afternoon. « But we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage. We have thousands and thousands of our fellow citizens whose lives are upside down.
