Bigger than Katrina, Laura thrashes Louisiana, as nearby states face tornado threats
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LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana — One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S., "Laura" barreled across Louisiana on Thursday, shearing off roofs and killing at least six people while carving a destructive path hundreds of miles inland.
A full assessment of the damage wrought by the Category 4 system will likely take days, and the threat of additional damage looms as new tornado warnings were issued after dark in Arkansas and Mississippi even as the storm weakened into a tropical depression.
But despite a trail of demolished buildings, entire neighborhoods left in ruins, and almost 900,000 homes and businesses without power, a sense of relief prevailed that Laura was not the annihilating menace forecasters had feared.
“It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute, catastrophic damage that we thought was likely," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said. “But we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage."
He called Laura the most powerful hurricane to strike Louisiana, meaning it surpassed even Katrina, which was a Category 3 storm when it hit in 2005. The storm toppled trees and damaged structures as far north as central Arkansas.
Laura’s top wind speed of 150 mph (241 kph) put it among the strongest systems on record in the U.S. Not until 11 hours after landfall did Laura finally lose hurricane status as it plowed north and thrashed Arkansas… More + PHOTOS
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