Hurricane Laura levels homes and causes deaths as one of US's strongest ever storms

Remnants of Hurricane Laura unleashed heavy rain and twisters hundreds of miles inland from a path of death and mangled buildings along the Gulf coast, and forecasters warn of new dangers as the tropical weather blows toward the eastern seaboard this weekend. More than 750,000 homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas in the category 4 storm’s wake, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the United States, Laura was blamed for six deaths as it barreled across Louisiana and parts of Texas. Aerial pictures showed whole neighborhoods leveled across parts of the coast, huge expanses of flood water and many buildings with shredded roofs and blasted out windows. But a sense of relief prevailed that Laura was not the annihilating menace forecasters had feared, though a full assessment of the true extent of all the damage could take days. Four people were killed by falling trees in Louisiana, including a 14-year-old girl and a 68-year-old man. A 24-year-old man died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator inside his residence. Another man drowned in a boat that sank during the storm, authorities said. The threat of tornadoes was forecast to redevelop on Friday after a reported tornado tore through a church and homes in north-eastern Arkansas. Trees were down and power was out where what was left of the once fearsome category 4 hurricane spun over the state. The storm crashed ashore in low-lying Louisiana and clobbered Lake Charles, an industrial and casino city of 80,000 people. On Broad Street, many buildings had partially collapsed. Windows were blown out, awnings ripped away and trees split in eerily misshapen ways. A floating casino came unmoored and hit a bridge, and small planes were thrown atop each other at the airport.

All data is taken from the source: https://www.theguardian.com/
Article Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/28/hurricane-laura-deaths-destruction-us-strongest-ever-storm

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