LAKE ARTHUR, La. (AP) – Laura has weakened to a Category 2 hurricane as its center moved deeper inland over Louisiana. That’s no longer a major hurricane but it still has extremely dangerous winds hours after striking the coast and pushing what forecasters called an unsurvivable storm surge miles inland.
Laura’s eye hit a stretch of Louisiana near the Texas state line early Thursday as a Category 4. Authorities had ordered more than 580,000 coastal residents to evacuate, but not everyone did.
Now they have to wait until conditions ease before attempting search and rescue missions and assessing the damage.
