Hurricane Laura strikes Louisiana as Category 4 storm, battering Lake Charles area and bringing flood threat

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Hurricane Laura, a monster of a storm that picked up ferocious intensity as it traversed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, continued to threaten a large swath of Texas and Louisiana with what authorities said could be “unsurvivable” flooding and catastrophic winds as it moved inland Thursday and began to weaken.

Laura strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane before it made landfall in Louisiana, its fearsome eyewall trained on the low-lying wetlands that span the border between Texas and Louisiana. Residents fled Lake Charles and Port Arthur, Tex., as the National Weather Service predicted that high tide combined with a potentially historic storm surge could push dangerous waters as far as 40 miles inland in the early hours of Thursday.

The storm was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane Thursday morning but still had sustained winds higher than 100 mph and threatened flooding along its path northward.

These communities have seen hurricanes before, but perhaps nothing like Laura, which had sustained winds of more than 150 mph while out over the water, with gusts of up to 175 mph. That kind of power can uproot trees and toss them like twigs or splinter and flatten homes — as Hurricane Michael did when it similarly intensified rapidly over the gulf and slammed into Mexico Beach, Fla., two years ago, about 500 miles east of here.

Authorities in this coastal city of 78,000 were bracing for some of the worst storm surge flooding in recorded history, with the winds and shape of the coastline combining to drive a wall of water well beyond the shore. Expectations are that the Calcasieu River and the lakes that sit north of the coastline could crest at more than 15 feet above normal. That likely would put much of Lake Charles underwater, so city officials ordered a mandatory evacuation.

By Wednesday afternoon, most Lake Charles residents who planned to get out had done so. Buildings and homes were boarded up across the region, and the streets of the city’s small downtown were desolate.

As Hurricane Laura continues to move north along Louisiana’s western border and into Arkansas, its wind speeds will slow, but heavy rains and strong gusts still threaten to cause damage Thursday and Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

The historically powerful cyclone made landfall near Cameron, La., around 1 a.m. Gusts of up to 132 mph and sustained winds of 98 mph thrashed Lake Charles, La., in the early hours of Thursday morning. Hurricane-force winds are expected to continue for several hours in areas of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana.

“At the time of landfall, Laura was a ferocious looking hurricane with a clear circular eye, an intense eyewall, and tightly-coiled surrounding spiral bands,” the National Weather Service said in an update on the storm early Thursday.

Flooding caused by a “catastrophic” storm surge up to 40 miles inland in southwestern Louisiana may continue for several days before the displaced water fully recedes. A National Ocean Service tide station in Calcasieu Pass, La., recorded a water level rise of 9.19 ft during the storm surge.

Hurricane Laura is forecast to weaken into a tropical storm later Thursday and a tropical depression by Friday, but flash floods remain a risk as the storm produces heavy rains.

“Widespread flash flooding along small streams, urban areas, and roadways is expected across portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas,” according to the National Weather Service. “This will also lead to minor to moderate freshwater river flooding. The heavy rainfall threat and flash and urban flooding potential will spread northeastward into the middle-Mississippi, lower Ohio, Tennessee Valley, and Mid-Atlantic States Friday and Saturday.”

Eventually, the weakened storm will find its way back to the Atlantic Ocean and move on toward Canada.

The northern eyewall of Hurricane Laura reached sparsely populated Cameron Parish, La., at about midnight Thursday, bringing gusts of wind as strong as 115 mph and a “catastrophic storm surge” that threatened to put most of the region under several feet of water, according to the National Weather Service.

Cameron is the second smallest parish in the state by population, in part because the southwest region has a long history of being decimated by hurricanes.

A devastating storm hit the parish on June 27, 1957, marking an early hurricane season. The cyclone brought a “massive” storm surge into Cameron and neighboring parishes, according to the National Weather Service. The storm killed at least 500 people and many residents who went missing in the hurricane were never found.

Almost 50 years later, in 2005, Hurricane Rita struck. Nearly all of the homes in Cameron Parish were destroyed, according to the Advocate. A third of the local residents who lost their homes in that storm decided not to rebuild, leaving the parish much smaller even a full decade later.

Just three years after Rita, Hurricane Ike walloped the region, flooding the coastline. Even more people decided not to return to the parish after that storm.

More than 10 years have passed since Hurricane Ike, and almost 7,000 people live in Cameron Parish now. Most residents heeded mandatory evacuation orders on Wednesday as Hurricane Laura approached, but local officials said at least 150 people remained.

The damage Hurricane Laura is expected to wreak will likely be calamitous for Cameron Parish. On Wednesday, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said he had heard reports that the storm would leave the region severely flooded.

“They’re thinking Cameron parish is going to look like an extension of the Gulf of Mexico for a couple of days,” Edwards said Wednesday.

As historically powerful Hurricane Laura barreled north, heavy winds reached Lake Charles in southwest Louisiana, bending trees and blowing rain in horizontal sheets as the eyewall approached the first major city impacted by the Category 4 storm.

A wind gust of 128 mph was reported around 1:20 a.m. as the eye of the storm approached the city. More than 225,000 people live in Lake Charles and the surrounding metropolitan area, which also includes Jennings, La. The National Weather Service reported sustained winds of 85 mph in Lake Charles around 1:20 a.m.

The National Weather Service said the hurricane was moving north at about 15 mph. The storm’s path is projected to follow the west border of Louisiana, as Hurricane Laura moves north toward Arkansas.

Despite mandatory evacuation orders, officials have said at least 150 people refused to leave their homes in Cameron Parish, La., where Hurricane Laura is expected to make landfall in the early morning hours of Thursday.

Those who decided to wait out the storm might be forced to retreat to the top floors and attics of their homes, as floodwaters will likely rush into buildings in the storm’s path. The Louisiana National Guard suggested bringing tools, like an ax or sledgehammer, into the attic space where they may be trapped by flooding caused by the “unsurvivable” storm surge.

“For those folks that are staying at home or staying in some other location, it’s imperative to come up with a contingency plan right there on-site,” Louisiana National Guard Brigadier General Keith Waddell told The Weather Channel on Wednesday evening. “If you do need to get to higher ground, you may want to consider tools in the event that you have to get in your attic, and you may have to cut your way out of there before we can get to you the next day.”

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) told Fox News that he expects emergency personnel to perform a “large number” of search-and-rescue missions on Thursday after the storm has passed.

“Much of our state is in the path of #HurricaneLaura tonight,” Edwards said in a tweet late Wednesday as the hurricane approached the Louisiana coast. “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.”