Hurricane Laura roars ashore in Louisiana as a powerful Category 4
One of the strongest storms to hit the state, Laura brought an 'unsurvivable' surge warning and widespread destruction.
Hurricane Laura slammed into southwestern Louisiana this August as a powerful Category 4 storm, one of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the state, bringing ferocious winds, a dangerous storm surge and widespread destruction to the region.
Laura came ashore near Cameron with sustained winds of around 150 miles per hour. Ahead of landfall, forecasters had issued dire warnings of an "unsurvivable" storm surge, urging residents along the coast to evacuate, a plea that many heeded.
The storm's intense winds ripped roofs from buildings, snapped trees and power poles, and left a trail of damage across the region, including in the city of Lake Charles. Though the surge did not reach the catastrophic levels initially feared in some areas, the wind damage was severe and widespread, and the storm was blamed for a number of deaths, some from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators used amid prolonged power outages.
Laura was one of a relentless series of storms during a record-breaking Atlantic season, and it struck a region that would be hit repeatedly that year, compounding the hardship for communities with little time to recover between blows.
The storm underscored the particular danger of strong, fast-moving hurricanes making landfall in vulnerable coastal areas, and the importance of heeding evacuation orders when forecasters warn of a life-threatening surge.