Hurricane Laura now a 'major' storm What's its path Where will storm

As Hurricane Laura makes its march toward the Upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coasts, the already Category 3 ''major'' hurricane is strengthening and growing, on track to bring ''potentially catastrophic storm surge,'' forecasters say. Laura is swirling off Texas and Louisiana with winds whipping up to 115 mph as it's forecast to make landfall late Wednesday into Thursday morning. The storm surge and tropical-storm-force winds are forecast to arrive later Wednesday, with flash flooding expected later, too.''Steps to protect life and property should be rushed to completion in the next few hours,'' the National Hurricane Center says, as Laura could create ''potentially catastrophic damage.''Here's what we know Wednesday:The hurricane center last spotted the storm about 280 miles south-southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and 290 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving at about 15 mph, as of 7 a.m. CDT.''This general motion should continue today, followed by a north-northwestward motion  tonight. On the forecast track, Laura should approach the Upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coasts this evening and move inland near those areas tonight or Thursday morning,'' forecasters said. A hurricane warning was in effect for San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana. With winds up to 115 mph, the storm is currently a Category 3 hurricane but was expected to strengthen to a Category 4 during the day on Wednesday, forecasters said. It may ''weaken'' slightly to a Category 3 at landfall, the hurricane center said.''Satellite images indicate that Laura has become a formidable hurricane. There are no signs it will stop soon,'' the hurricane center said. ''Hurricane-force winds and damaging wind gusts are also expected to spread well inland into portions of eastern Texas and western Louisiana early Thursday,'' the center added. Once the storm hits, it is expected to rapidly weaken. The hurricane center also called Laura ''a large hurricane,'' with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical-storm- force winds extending outward up to 175 miles, forecasters said.“Some areas, when they wake up Thursday morning, they’re not going to believe what happened,” said Stacy Stewart, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center. Storm surge, the massive mound of water that builds up and comes ashore during a hurricane, is often the deadliest and most destructive threat from these storms. It is created as the storm's powerful winds push water onto the shore.“We could see storm surge heights more than 15 feet in some areas,” Stewart said. “What doesn’t get blown down by the wind could easily get knocked down by the rising ocean waters pushing well inland.”Storm surge will be the worst from Sea Rim State Park in Texas to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, with up to 15 feet forecast. Intracoastal City to Morgan City, Louisiana, could see 8 to 12 feet of surge.

All data is taken from the source: http://usatoday.com
Article Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/26/hurricane-laura-path-tracking-map-storm-surge-flooding-rainfall/3441856001/

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