Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
'Full Beast Mode' Hurricane Could Bring 'Unsurvivable' Storm Surge
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
August 26, 2020

Share

DELCAMBRE, La. — Laura strengthened Wednesday into a menacing Category 4 hurricane, raising fears of a 20-foot storm surge that forecasters said would be “unsurvivable” and capable of sinking entire communities. Authorities implored coastal residents of Texas and Louisiana to evacuate and worried that not enough had fled.

The storm grew nearly 87% in power in just 24 hours to a size the National Hurricane Center called “extremely dangerous.” Drawing energy from the warm Gulf of Mexico waters, the system was on track to arrive late Wednesday or early Thursday as the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. so far this year.

“It looks like it’s in full beast mode, which is not what you want to see if you’re in its way,” University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said.

Winds were expected to reach 150 mph (241 kph) before landfall, and forecasters said up to 15 inches of rain could fall in some places.

One major Louisiana highway already had standing water as Laura’s outer bands moved ashore with tropical storm-force winds. Thousands of sandbags lined roadways in tiny Lafitte, and winds picked up as shoppers rushed into a grocery store in low-lying Delcambre. Trent Savoie, 31, said he was staying put.

“With four kids and 100 farm animals, it’s just hard to move out,” he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards fretted that the dire predictions were not resonating despite authorities putting more than 500,000 coastal residents under mandatory evacuation orders.

In Lake Charles, Louisiana, National Guard members drove school buses around neighborhoods, offering to pick up families. Across the state line in Port Arthur, Texas, few stragglers boarded evacuation buses, and city officials announced that two C-130 transport planes offered the last chance to leave.

Abbott warned that people who fail to get out of harm’s way could be cut off from help long after the storm hits.

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, at 2:40 p.m. EDT., and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Laura over the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Laura strengthened Wednesday into “an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane,” The National Hurricane Center said.Laura is expected to strike Wednesday night into Thursday morning along the Louisiana-Texas border. (NOAA via AP)

On Twitter, President Trump Urged Coastal Residents to Heed Local Officials

A Category 4 hurricane can cause damage so catastrophic that power outages may last for months in places, and wide areas could be uninhabitable for weeks or months. The threat of such devastation posed a new disaster-relief challenge for a government already straining to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Among the parts of Louisiana that were under evacuation orders were areas turning up high rates of positive COVID-19 tests.

The National Hurricane Center kept raising its estimate of Laura’s storm surge, from 10 feet just a couple of days ago to twice that size — a height that forecasters said would be especially deadly.

By Wednesday afternoon, Laura had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (233 kph) as it churned about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Lake Charles.

“Heed the advice of your local authorities. If they tell you to go, go! Your life depends on it today,” said Joel Cline, tropical program coordinator at the National Weather Service. “It’s a serious day and you need to listen to them.”

On Twitter, President Donald Trump also urged coastal residents to heed local officials. Hurricane warnings were issued from San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, and reached inland for 200 miles (322 kilometers). Storm surge warnings were in effect from Freeport, Texas, to the mouth of the Mississippi River.

For some, the decision to leave home left them with no place to stay. Wary of opening mass shelters during a pandemic, Texas officials instead put evacuees in hotels, but Austin stopped taking arrivals before dawn because officials said they ran out of rooms. Other evacuees called the state’s 211 information line and were directed to Ennis, outside Dallas, only to be told after driving hundreds of miles that there were no hotels available or vouchers.

Taniquia Ned and her sisters showed up without money to rent a room, saying the family had burned through its savings after losing jobs because of the coronavirus. “The COVID-19 is just totally wiping us out,” said Shalonda Joseph, 43, a teacher in Port Arthur.

Edwards lamented that the impending storm meant suspension of community testing for COVID-19 at a crucial time — as elementary and secondary schools in Louisiana are opening and students are returning to college campuses. “We’re basically going to be blind for this week,” Edwards said, referring to the lack of testing.

Laura Is Expected to Cause Widespread Flash Flooding in States Far From the Coast

Forecasters said storm surge topped by waves could submerge entire towns. Water was already rising in the small Louisiana community of Holly Beach in the imperiled Cameron Parish, which forecasters have warned could become part of the Gulf of Mexico after the storm comes ashore.

Laura is expected to cause widespread flash flooding in states far from the coast. Flood watches were issued for much of Arkansas, and forecasters said heavy rainfall could arrive by Friday in parts of Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. Laura is so powerful that it’s expected to become a tropical storm again once it reaches the Atlantic Ocean, potentially threatening the Northeast.

Becky Clements, 56, evacuated from Lake Charles after hearing that it could take a direct hit. She and her family found an AirBnb hundreds of miles inland. Almost 15 years have passed since Hurricane Rita destroyed the city.

“The devastation afterward in our town and that whole corner of the state was just awful,” Clements recalled. “Whole communities were washed away, never to exist again. … So knowing how devastating the storms are, there was no way we were going to stay for this.”

The church educator said she fears for her office, which is in a trailer following recent construction.

“I very much anticipate that my office will be gone when I get back. It will be scattered throughout that field.”

The hurricane also threatens a center of the U.S. energy industry. The government said 84% of Gulf oil production and an estimated 61% of natural gas production were shut down. Nearly 300 platforms have been evacuated. Consumers are unlikely to see big price hikes however, because the pandemic has decimated demand for fuel.

“If Laura moves further west toward Houston, there will be a much bigger gasoline supply problem,” Oil analyst Andrew Lipow said, since refineries usually take two to three weeks to resume full operations.

Laura closed in on the U.S. after killing nearly two dozen people on the island of Hispaniola, including 20 in Haiti and three in the Dominican Republic, where it knocked out power and caused intense flooding.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Oreo Maker Mondelez Sues Aldi, Alleging Grocery Chain Copies Its Packaging to Confuse Customers

DON'T MISS

FAA Demands an Accident Investigation Into SpaceX’s Latest Out-of-Control Starship Flight

DON'T MISS

In Marseille, a Shadow Becomes Art in Banksy’s Latest Street Mural

DON'T MISS

Dozens Sickened in Expanding Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Recalled Cucumbers

DON'T MISS

Ray Appleton Set to Resume His KMJ Show. E Curtis Johnson Retires

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Communications Boss on Leave After AI-Generated FTA Dossier Debacle

DON'T MISS

Visalia Teen Takes Second Place in Dramatic Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals

DON'T MISS

Newsom Tussles With Local Officials Over Homelessness

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Two Women Suspected in Targeted Shootings

DON'T MISS

Taylor Swift Has Regained Control of Her Music, Buys Back First 6 Albums

UP NEXT

Speaker Johnson Raises Campaign Money in Fresno

UP NEXT

Business Insider Cuts 21% of Workforce, Memo Shows

UP NEXT

Harvard Agrees to Relinquish Early Photos of Slaves, Ending a Long Legal Battle

UP NEXT

Silence on E. Coli Outbreak Highlights How Trump Team’s Changes Undermine Food Safety

UP NEXT

Trump Pardons Tax Cheat After Mother Attends $1 Million Dinner

UP NEXT

NPR Sues Trump Administration Over Executive Order to Cut Funding

UP NEXT

Justice Department Reaches Deal to Allow Boeing to Avoid Prosecution Over 737 Max Crashes

UP NEXT

Low-Income Compton Students Get $225M State-of-the-Art High School Campus

UP NEXT

Everyone Now Has an Opinion on Jake Tapper

UP NEXT

Braves Star Ronald Acuña Jr. to Return Friday From Left Knee Injury

Dozens Sickened in Expanding Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Recalled Cucumbers

20 minutes ago

Ray Appleton Set to Resume His KMJ Show. E Curtis Johnson Retires

34 minutes ago

Fresno Unified Communications Boss on Leave After AI-Generated FTA Dossier Debacle

56 minutes ago

Visalia Teen Takes Second Place in Dramatic Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals

2 hours ago

Newsom Tussles With Local Officials Over Homelessness

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Two Women Suspected in Targeted Shootings

2 hours ago

Taylor Swift Has Regained Control of Her Music, Buys Back First 6 Albums

2 hours ago

How Trump’s Vow to Revoke Chinese Student Visas Could Hurt California

2 hours ago

Speaker Johnson Raises Campaign Money in Fresno

2 hours ago

2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Panthers-Oilers Final Rematch, Who Is Favored and What to Watch For

3 hours ago

Oreo Maker Mondelez Sues Aldi, Alleging Grocery Chain Copies Its Packaging to Confuse Customers

Snack food maker Mondelez International is suing the Aldi supermarket chain, alleging the packaging for Aldi’s store-brand cookies and...

5 minutes ago

5 minutes ago

Oreo Maker Mondelez Sues Aldi, Alleging Grocery Chain Copies Its Packaging to Confuse Customers

9 minutes ago

FAA Demands an Accident Investigation Into SpaceX’s Latest Out-of-Control Starship Flight

14 minutes ago

In Marseille, a Shadow Becomes Art in Banksy’s Latest Street Mural

20 minutes ago

Dozens Sickened in Expanding Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Recalled Cucumbers

34 minutes ago

Ray Appleton Set to Resume His KMJ Show. E Curtis Johnson Retires

56 minutes ago

Fresno Unified Communications Boss on Leave After AI-Generated FTA Dossier Debacle

2 hours ago

Visalia Teen Takes Second Place in Dramatic Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals

2 hours ago

Newsom Tussles With Local Officials Over Homelessness

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend