Hurricane Laura makes landfall

The powerful Category 4 storm came ashore near Cameron Parish in southwestern Louisiana early Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. Videos from the area showed coastal streets covered in water and windows blown out of a tall building in Lake Charles. Authorities ordered more than 580,000 coastal residents to evacuate, yet at least 150 people in Cameron Parish refused to leave. Laura is the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in the United States this year.

What is the expected effect of the storm? Officials will have a clearer idea of the extent of the damage after daybreak when search-and-rescue missions begin. Forecasters expected the storm, which was still a Category 3 Thursday morning, to bring an “unsurvivable” 20-foot storm surge and predicted flooding would reach states far inland. Arkansas has already issued a flood warning while parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri expect heavy rainfall. The hurricane could become a tropical storm again as it moves east and reaches the Atlantic Ocean, posing a possible threat to the northeastern United States.

Dig deeper: Follow the latest updates from the National Hurricane Center.