The National Hurricane Center says Laura will 'rapidly strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane' as it barrels toward the Upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coasts Wednesday evening.
is growing and"rapidly" strengthening off the Gulf Coast as it is forecast to bring"life-threatening storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding" to eastern Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday.Laura will"rapidly strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane" as it barrels toward the Upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coasts Wednesday evening.outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles," the hurricane center said.
The storm, moving northwest at 15 mph, was last spotted 315 miles south-southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana and 335 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, as of 4 a.m. CDT Wednesday. Winds speeds had increased to up to 110 mph. “We are expecting widespread power outages, trees down. Homes and businesses will be damaged,” said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana.The hurricane center says parts of the coast from Sea Rim State Park in Texas to Intracoastal City, Louisiana could see waters rise as much as 15 feet due to"the combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide.
More than half a million people were ordered to evacuate as the storm approached, including the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur.Contributing: Doyle Rice; The Associated Press
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