August 28,2020
At least six people are known to have died after the storm crashed into the US, Governor Edwards told reporters.
At least six people have been killed as Hurricane Laura battered the US state of Louisiana. Of those, four were killed by falling trees. One man drowned in a boat that sank and another died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator in his home, authorities said.
There was more structural damage from winds than anticipated, but the water damage was less than feared.
Nearly 900,000 homes and businesses lost power as the storm hit the US.
A barge had collided with a bridge in the city of Lake Charles, quite close to where a suspected “chlorine chemical fire” at an industrial plant was being attended by emergency services.
Mr Edwards said people should stay off the roads where possible, as outer bands of the storm were still causing high water levels and winds.
Some 1,500 people, including National Guard troops, are being deployed in rescue and clean-up missions.
Vice-President Mike Pence, who joined Mr Trump at Fema (Federal Emergency Management Agency), said: “While this was a major storm with devastating impact it was not as bad as it could have been.”
Winds of up to 150mph (240km/h) caused severe damage, with power cuts to more than half a million homes and a chemical fire from an industrial plant.
But the feared 20ft (6m) storm surge was avoided as the hurricane, the state’s biggest, tracked further east.
Laura has now been downgraded to tropical storm status.
It has since crossed into Arkansas. At 19:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Thursday the National Hurricane Center said the storm had weakened to maximum sustained winds of 40mph (65km/h), but was still bringing heavy rainfall.
(Source :BBC News)
