Thousands flee US Gulf coastline as Hurricane Laura prompts fears of 20ft storm surge
Category 4 hurricane expected to hit Wednesday evening and bring storm surges up to 40 miles inland
Thousands of residents were continuing to evacuate as the outer bands of Hurricane Laura lashed coastal communities in Louisiana and Texas on Wednesday afternoon, with forecasters describing the storm surge from the mammoth category 4 hurricane as “unsurvivable”.
The weather system is due to hit the US Gulf Coast late on Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning, as its center increased in ferocity about 175 miles south of Lake Charles in Louisiana, with sustained wind speeds of 140mph. Hundreds of thousands of people are now under evacuation order.