Hurricane Laura, now a major Category 3 storm, hurtled toward the coasts of Louisiana and Texas on Wednesday morning, prompting state leaders to make dire warnings about life-threatening conditions as the storm gained further strength. The storm had sustained winds of nearly 115 miles per hour as it powered north through the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said, and was expected to intensify to Category 4 strength later in the day. Laura is set to make landfall early on Thursday morning, but meteorologists said powerful gusts of wind and heavy rains would arrive much sooner, as early as Wednesday afternoon. “This is a major hurricane,” Gov. “It’s going to be a large, powerful storm.”

Source: New York Times August 26, 2020 09:00 UTC