Hurricane Laura quickly strengthened to a Category 4 storm on Wednesday as it is scheduled to make landfall near the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast on Wednesday night.
It will cause “large and destructive waves” from “Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, including Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes,” adding: “This surge could penetrate up to 30 miles inland from the immediate coastline,” according to the NHC.
The eye of the storm is forecast to move over northwestern Louisiana on Thursday, across Arkansas on Thursday night, and it will head to the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday.
Evacuation Orders
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards both have voiced concerns that not enough coastal residents are taking the storm seriously, AP reported.On Twitter, President Donald Trump also called on coastal residents to heed local officials’ commands to evacuate. Hurricane warnings were issued by the NHC from San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, and reached inland for 200 miles. Storm surge warnings were in effect from Freeport, Texas, to the mouth of the Mississippi River.
About 500,000 people live under areas where the evacuation orders were implemented, according to an Associated Press analysis.