Lake Charles residents capture Hurricane Laura's damage as powerful storm moves inland
Lake Charles residents began documenting Hurricane Laura's impact in the area as the sun rose on Thursday morning.
The powerful storm was downgraded to Category 3 after making landfall near Cameron overnight.
By 7 a.m., hurricane conditions were spreading farther inland across southwest Louisiana, according to the National Hurricane Center, and widespread damage was evident in the Lake Charles area.
Residents were warned that catastrophic storm surge, hurricane-force winds and flash flooding will continue this the morning.
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Hurricane Laura forecast Thursday
Laura is moving toward the north near 15 mph and this motion should continue through the day. A northeastward to east-northeastward motion is expected tonight and Friday.
The storm will dump 8-12 inches of rain from far southwest Louisiana and the Golden Triangle of Southeast Texas with isolated totals of 18 inches. About 5-10 inches with isolated totals of 15 inches are expected across central and the rest of western Louisiana into far eastern Texas, according to the national weather service update.
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The center of Laura is forecast to move over Arkansas tonight, the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday, and the mid-Atlantic states on Saturday.
Several tornadoes are expected overnight over Louisiana, far southeast Texas, and southwestern Mississippi. The risk for tornadoes will continue through the day across Louisiana, Arkansas, and western Mississippi.
Rapid weakening is forecast, and Laura is expected to become a tropical storm later today.