It's a MONSTER: Hurricane Laura now category 4 and will cause an unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves which will cause catastrophic damage: 150mph (241 km/h) Hurricane-force winds are expected; Area has not taken a hit from a category 4 or 5, storm since the start of modern records

Category 4 Hurricane Laura, credit NASA

The National Hurricane Centre has issued a warning claiming Hurricane Laura will be a category 4 storm as it makes landfall. The monster will cause an unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves which will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, Texas to Intracoastal City in Louisiana. That storm surge is expected to penetrate up to 40 miles (65 km) inland with flood-waters not receding for several days according to The National Hurricane Centre.

150mph (241 km/h) Hurricane-force winds are expected tonight in portions of the hurricane warning area, with catastrophic wind damage expected where Laura's eyewall moves onshore. Hurricane-force winds and widespread damaging wind gusts will spread well inland into portions of Eastern Texas and Western Louisiana early Thursday.

The monster captured from space by NOAA.

Government meteorologists issued unusually dire warnings as a large hurricane neared the US Gulf Coast on August 26, 2020. After rapidly strengthening as it passed across the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Laura was poised to make landfall near the border between Texas and Louisiana.

The category 4 storm was expected to unleash strong winds, heavy rains, and a potentially catastrophic storm surge on an area that has not taken a direct hit from a category 4 or 5, storm since the start of modern hurricane records. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a natural-colour image (above) of Laura on August 26 at 12:20 p.m. as the storm neared the coast.

Monster, credit NOAA

The storm will make landfall late in the evening on August 26, before marching up the Mississippi Valley. The gravest concern was for a coastal zone extending from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana—an area that National Hurricane Center forecasters warned could face a storm surge of 15 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) at the coast and flood-waters that penetrate as far as 40 miles (60 kilometres) inland.

Hurricanes and Cyclones 2020

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