Head for the hills!
Gulf evacs as Cat. 3 Laura looms
More than half a million people have been ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Laura — as forecasters predicted Tuesday the storm will slam the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 monster.
Laura was upgraded to a hurricane Tuesday morning and will continue to intensify as it swirls closer to the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.
It is expected to make landfall sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning packing 115 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said.
At least 385,000 residents were told to flee three cities in east Texas on Tuesday, while another 200,000 were ordered to leave southwestern Louisiana ahead of the big storm.
Forecasters said as much as 13 feet of storm surge topped by waves could submerge whole communities in low-lying Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana.
The storm was being fueled by warm waters as it moved over the south-central Gulf of Mexico.
“The waters are warm enough everywhere there to support a major hurricane, Category 3 or even higher,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Ed Rappaport said.
“The waters are very warm where the storm is now and will be for the entire path up until the Gulf Coast.”
A Category 3 hurricane packs wind speeds of 111 to 129 mph and causes devastating damage, according to the classification on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
The NHC warned that Laura will bring heavy rainfall as it moves inland Wednesday night into Saturday that could cause widespread flash flooding.
It also said there was a threat of a “life-threatening” storm surge from San Luis Pass, Texas, to the mouth of the Mississippi River — an expanse of nearly 400 miles.
Laura has already barreled through Puerto Rico, Cuba and Hispaniola, killing at least 23 people in the Caribbean, according to the Weather Channel.
The fierce storm system comes on the heels of Tropical Storm Marco, which was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane Sunday night but has since been downgraded to a tropical depression. Marco made landfall Monday evening near the mouth of the Mississippi River as a tropical storm.
The region has been bracing for the back-to-back hurricanes for days, with some cities issuing mandatory evacuations and officials warning to use Tuesday to prepare.