LATEST UPDATE – Hurricane Laura. Category 2 hurricane. Maximum sustained winds: 100mph. Movement north at 15mph now through Alexandria, LA, producing surface winds of 48mph with gusts of 79mph.
Last night Hurricane Laura made a catastrophic landfall on the Louisiana coastline at Cameron, with sustained winds of 150mph on impact. The damage reports from Lake Charles are severe with reports of around 50% of structures suffering severe damage with around 70% of structures suffering at least minor to moderate damage.
The Louisiana Gov has now reported that sadly a 14 year old girl died when a tree fell on here home last night. There are fears the death toll could be significantly higher with search and rescue missions ongoing.
.@LouisianaGov says he got the report of the first fatality from Hurricane Laura in Louisiana. A 14 year old girl who died when a tree fell on her home. We do expect that there could be more fatalities.
— Christina “MASK UP” Stephens (@CEStephens) August 27, 2020
Although Laura may be weakening somewhat, it is still a dangerous system heading north and likely to retain flash flooding potential well into the weekend going into Arkansas/ TN/KN.