Hurricane Laura Kills 4 In The US; Extensive Property Damage Reported
Image Credit – Economic Times
On Thursday, Hurricane Laura killed at least four people and caused major damages to properties as it made its landfall near Cameron in Louisiana. It brought catastrophic storm surge, flash flooding, extreme winds, and also snapped electricity supply. Laura is a category 4 hurricane – maximum wind speed of 150 miles/hour. It is the strongest hurricane to hit the land of the US, slamming the Gulf Coast early Thursday. It roared through Louisiana, causing heavy damage. The hurricane barreled over the Lake Charles of Louisiana.
President Donald Trump will be paying a visit to the Gulf Coast this weekend in order to measure the percentage of destruction caused by one of the catastrophic hurricanes in living memory here. Hours before the final night of the Republican National Convention, Trump spoke at the Federal Emergency Convention and said that the campaign had decided to postpone his convention speech until Monday so he could survey the damage by traveling to Texas, Louisiana, and possibly Arkansas. But, he ultimately decided to continue with his plan of giving the speech.
The FEMA officials provided a brief presentation in detail along with the pictures of the damage to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at its National Response Coordination Center.
The Vice President said, ‘This team forward deployed resources, We were ready for the worst, and by all accounts from the experts, while this was obviously a major storm with devastating impact, it was not as bad as it could have been.’
Chad Wolf, the acting Homeland Security Secretary told the President that the ground situation ‘is fluid and challenging’ but the FEMA has responded well. The top wind speed of the hurricane was 150 mph, making it one of the most powerful hurricanes to be recorded in the US.
Governor John Bel Edwards said on Thursday that at least four deaths had been reported due to the storm. All the deaths happened due to trees falling on their homes. One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl, while the others were a 51-year-old man in Jackson Parish, a 68-year-old man, and a 64-year-old woman in Acadia Parish.
Due to this, more than 840,000 people remained without power in Louisiana and Texas. The videos shared on social media showed that the storm blew out dozens of windows in tall buildings, including the CapitalOne tower.
On Thursday, a fire also broke out at a chemical plant in Westlake. The fire sent thick some across a wide area. According to Mayor Robert Hardey, the fire was burning at a plant operated by BioLab.
On Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott toured the damaged areas of East Texas. He said about 8,500 people were served in Texas shelters.
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