LAKE CHARLES, La. Laura strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane before it made landfall in Louisiana, its fearsome eyewall trained on the low-lying wetlands that span the border between Texas and Louisiana. Residents fled Lake Charles and Port Arthur, Tex., as the National Weather Service predicted high tide combined with a potentially historic storm surge could push dangerous waters as far as 40 miles inland in the early hours of Thursday. The storm was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane Thursday morning but still had sustained winds higher than 100 mph and threatened flooding along its path northward. That probably would put much of Lake Charles underwater, so city officials ordered a mandatory evacuation.

Source: Washington Post August 26, 2020 12:09 UTC