‘Houses that are totally gone’: 4 dead as Tropical Storm Laura exits Louisiana, leaving wake of destruction

One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. pounded the Gulf Coast with wind and rain early Thursday morning, but Laura rapidly weakened and was downgraded to a tropical storm by afternoon.

Chemical fire billows near Lake Charles in Hurricane Laura’s wake

A fire at a Louisiana chlorine plant erupted with thick, billowing smoke Thursday after Hurricane Laura plowed through part of the country’s petrochemical corridor with storm surges and fierce wind, forcing residents around the plant to shelter in their homes.

Hurricane Laura: Wind, rain pummel coasts of Louisiana, Texas as ferocious storm makes landfall

The storm's power is raising fears of a 20-foot storm surge that forecasters say would be “unsurvivable” and capable of sinking entire communities on the Texas and Louisiana coast.

Hurricane Laura moving inland over Louisiana after making landfall as Cat 4

Hurricane Laura made landfall and brings unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves that will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana.

Hurricane Laura forces hundreds of thousands to evacuate Gulf Coast

More than 385,000 residents were told to flee the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, and another 200,000 were ordered to leave low-lying Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana, where forecasters said as much as 13 feet (3.96 meters) of storm surge topped by waves could submerge whole communities.

Hurricane Laura forms; projected to strengthen before Gulf Coast landfall

Laura became a hurricane on Tuesday morning as it entered the warm and deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, gathering strength on a path to hit the U.S. coastline early Thursday as a major hurricane that could unleash a surge of seawater higher than a basketball hoop and swamp entire towns.

Marco collapses; Laura could hit the U.S. as hurricane

The two-storm combination could bring a history-making onslaught of wind and coastal flooding from Texas to Alabama, all complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, forecasters said.