Laura leaves Louisiana battered

While the storm weakened to a tropical depression late Thursday, forecasters expect heavy rains and tornadoes as Laura passes through the Tennessee Valley region Friday. The storm, which was one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the United States, caused the death of six people and left widespread destruction, yet officials believe they dodged a bullet. “It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute, catastrophic damage that we thought was likely,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday. “But we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage.”

What was the extent of the damage? Laura left more than 700,000 homes and businesses without power in Texas and Louisiana, while more than 45,000 had lost electricity in Arkansas. The storm hit Lake Charles, La., particularly hard, causing buildings to partially collapse, blowing out windows, splitting trees in half, and overturning planes at the local airport. Officials believe a full assessment of the damage in the state will take days. President Donald Trump plans to visit the region to assess the damage this weekend.

Dig deeper: Follow National Weather Service storm warnings as Laura moves toward the Mid-Atlantic states.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.