Four dead and 800,000 without power as Louisiana suffers brunt of Hurricane Laura

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Hurricane Laura, one of the strongest ever to hit the US, came ashore in Louisiana in the early hours of Thursday morning, leaving a trail of destruction, and at least four people dead.

An expected 20ft storm surge, described as “unsurvivable”, thankfully did not materialise, but was significant nevertheless at between 9ft to 12ft.

The category 4 storm, the seventh named storm of the season, maintained its hurricane status as it moved across the state, downing trees, power lines and ripping off roofs. The top wind speed recorded was 241 kmh (150 mph).

A damage assessment will take days, as in some places entire neighbourhoods appear flattened. Over 850,000 people are without power across Louisiana and east Texas.

Worst hit was the city of Lake Charles, where many buildings partially collapsed or had their windows blown out. The Capitol One Bank Tower was stripped of most of its glass, and a riverboat casino was pulled from its mooring and became lodged under a bridge carrying Interstate 10. The bridge is being inspected for damage.

In nearby Westlake a huge fire broke out at the BioLab manufacturing plant releasing a cloud of toxic chlorine gas. As emergency responders fought to control the situation, governor John Bel Edwards implored residents to stay indoors with windows closed and air conditioning off.

News of the first death came late on Thursday morning. A 14-year-old girl was killed when a tree fell on her house. As the day continued three adult men were found to have died in the same manner in separate incidents.

A huge convoy of emergency vehicles was seen moving towards the coast from inland along I-10 in Texas to help local first responders. Other states are mobilising teams to assist both Louisiana and Texas, particularly with search and rescue.

President Donald Trump attended a meeting at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington DC to discuss the response, promising aggressive action to mitigate the impact of the storm.

The president said he would visit the damaged areas of the Gulf Coast this weekend. He also said that he had considered postponing his Republican National Convention speech on Thursday evening.

Laura has now been downgraded to a tropical storm and its strength will deplete further as it passes over Arkansas. High wind speeds, tornadoes, hail, and heavy rain remain a threat to much of the central US.

By the weekend the system will make its way back to the Atlantic, dousing the northeast with rain.

According to the National Hurricane Centre, there are currently two new tropical disturbances in the Atlantic. At present neither has a high chance of forming into a hurricane within the next two days.

Hurricane season in the North Atlantic ends on 30 November.