Hurricane Laura bringing “catastrophic storm surge” to parts of Louisiana

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is visiting the city of Orange on Thursday to survey damage in Hurricane Laura’s wake.

He plans to meet with local officials and give an update on response and recovery efforts in a press conference at 12:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET). Senator John Cornyn and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick will be joining Abbott.

CBSN will carry the press conference live – Watch it in the video player below: 

Christina Stephens, the Louisiana governor’s deputy chief of staff for communications, said in a tweet Thursday that Governor John Bel Edwards has received a report about the first fatality from Hurricane Laura in Louisiana.

A 14-year-old girl in Leesville died when a tree fell on her home, she said.

“We do expect that there could be more fatalities,” she added. 

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick has rescinded a mandatory evacuation order for the Texas county which is home to Port Arthur and Beaumont.

The new order is effective at 10 a.m. local time Thursday, according to a Facebook post from the Jefferson County Texas Office of Emergency Management.

As CBS affiliate KHOU reports, residents can head back to the county at that time. 

The National Hurricane Center said in its 7 a.m. advisory that “life-threatening storm surge with large and destructive waves” will continue Thursday morning within a Storm Surge Warning area that spans from High Island, Texas, to the mouth of Mississippi in Louisiana.

“This surge could penetrate up to 40 miles inland from the immediate coastline, and flood waters will not fully recede for several days after the storm,” it said.

Water could swell to the following heights somewhere in these areas:

• Johnson Bayou to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge including Calcasieu Lake: 15-20 ft 
• Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge to Intracoastal City: 10-15 ft 
• Intracoastal City to Morgan City including Vermilion Bay: 8-12 ft 
• Sea Rim State Park to Johnson Bayou including Sabine Lake: 4-8 ft 
• Morgan City to Mouth of the Mississippi River: 4-7 ft 
• High Island to Sea Rim State Park: 2-4 ft 
• Mouth of the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs including Lake Borgne:1-3 ft 
• Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas: 1-3 ft

The following warnings and watches were in effect as of 7 a.m. local time Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

• A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for: High Island Texas to the Mouth of the Mississippi River 
• A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for: High Island Texas to the Mouth of the Mississippi River 

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said in a tweet early Wednesday that as residents wake up they must remember the threat from Laura is ongoing.

“Stay home, continue to heed the warnings and instructions of local officials and monitor your local news to stay informed,” he tweeted.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development warned that conditions remain unsafe and urged residents to check 511la.org before traveling.

Nearly 470,000 homes and businesses have lost power in Texas and Louisiana due to Hurricane Laura.

As of early Thursday morning, three Texas counties were reporting tens of thousands of outages: 39,645 in Jefferson County, 21,813 in Orange County and 7,966 in Hardin County, CBS affiliate KHOU reported.  

Widespread outages were also reported across Louisiana. 

Tony Guillory, president of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury in Louisiana, said early Thursday morning over the phone as he hunkered down in a Lake Charles, Louisiana, that he hopes stranded people can be rescued later Thursday but fears downed power lines, blocked roads and and flooding could get in the way.  

“There are some people still in town and people are calling … but there ain’t no way to get to them,” he said.

-CBS News/The Associated Press 

Hurricane Laura’s howling winds battered a tall building in Lake Charles, Louisiana, blowing out windows as glass and debris flew to the ground. Hours after landfall, the wind and rain were still blowing hard.

“There are some people still in town and people are calling … but there ain’t no way to get to them,” Tony Guillory, president of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, said early Thursday morning over the phone as he hunkered down in a Lake Charles government building that was shaking from the storm.

Guillory said he hopes stranded people can be rescued later Thursday but fears that blocked roads, downed power lines and flooding could get in the way. 

Officials said search missions and damage assessments would begin when conditions allow it.

With more than 290,000 homes and businesses without power in the Louisiana and Texas, near-constant lightning provided the only light for some.

The National Hurricane Center is warning that the “combination of a dangerous storm surge” from Hurricane Laura and the tide “will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.”

The water could reach as high as 15-20 feet from Louisiana’s Johnson Bayou to the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, including Calcasieu Lake, the center said.

It added that an “unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, including Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes. This surge could penetrate up to 40 miles inland from the immediate coastline, and flood waters will not fully recede for several days after the storm.”

Conditions after Hurricane Laura made landfall were so dangerous that the National Weather Service cleared out of its Lake Charles, Louisiana office and was conducting operations from its Houston facility, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The center said Laura’s eyewall was pushing inland across southwestern Louisiana, causing “catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding” early Thursday.