Hurricane Laura left devastation in its wake in the state of Louisiana and is considered to be one of the most powerful storms to rip through the region in the history of the United States. The storm left catastrophic damage and killed at least six people, including a 68-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl.
Hurricane Laura's destructive strength
The weather disturbance has now turned into a tropical depression and has destroyed homes and business establishments, knocked out power that was distributed to nearly one million families in the states of Texas and Louisiana.
According to CBS News, United States authorities have placed Arkansas under a state of emergency and is currently being ravaged by strong winds and massive flooding.
The National Hurricane Center reported that Hurrican Laura was located about 30 miles north northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas, and was accompanied by sustained winds that blew at nearly 35 mph.
The powerful storm disturbed hundreds of thousands of homes in Louisiana's power and water supply. Entergy, an electric power distributor in the state, said that as of Thursday 4:00 p.m., there were more than 540,000 homes left without electricity. The power company announced it had deployed over 16,000 restoration teams to work on bringing back power to its customers.
The Louisiana Department of Health post on Twitter that at least 220,000 people were deprived of their water supplies, which meant that their communities could not access water. The department revealed that Hurricane Laura caused 67 water system outages, which were responsible for the lack of water access.
John Bel Edwards, the governor of Louisiana, said that the storm did not cause as much damage to the state as authorities feared it would. However, he cautioned that the region still suffered catastrophic damage and warned citizens to remain vigilant and aware, as reported by BBC.
Visiting the affected areas of the state
After being briefed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington, United States President Donald Trump said that he would schedule to travel to the affected area over the weekend.
President Trump said he was planning on delaying his speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) scheduled on Thursday to make his travel plans. The US president said that country was somewhat lucky that Hurrican Laura, although very powerful and destructive, passed through very quickly.
According to CNN, some communities were ravaged by storm surge, and videos taken by the United States Coast Guard showed massive flooding along the coast in Cameron. One survivor, Paul Heard, told reporters that he witnessed enormous damage left by the storm and said that citizens would need plenty of support to survive.
Heard said that he left his home shortly before Hurricane Laura tore the roof of his house off at around 1:00 a.m. and quickly took shelter inside his vehicle. He continued to watch about 25 feet away and witnessed his home being ravaged by the storm's powerful winds.
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