Laura Now Expected to Be a Catastrophic Category 4 Hurricane

Workers board up the windows on a business before the possible arrival of Hurricane Laura on August 25, 2020 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Wednesday, 26 August 2020 06:15 AM EDT ET

Forecasters say Hurricane Laura is now expected to rapidly power up into a 'catastrophic' Category 4 hurricane — an even stronger storm than previously expected — as it churns toward Texas and Louisiana, gathering wind and water that now covers much of the Gulf of Mexico.

Satellite images show that Laura has become “a formidable hurricane" in recent hours, threatening to smash homes and sink entire communities. It has undergone a remarkable intensification, “and there are no signs it will stop soon, with shear remaining low-to-moderate over the deep warm waters of the central Gulf of Mexico," the National Hurricane Center said in a briefing early Wednesday.

Laura’s maximum sustained winds have increased to near 110 mph (175 kph) with higher gusts, forecasters said early Wednesday.

“We are expecting widespread power outages, trees down. Homes and businesses will be damaged," said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is near the bullseye of Laura's forecast track.

“I’m telling you, this is going to be a very serious situation,” Jones said.

© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


US
Forecasters say Hurricane Laura is now expected to rapidly power up into a 'catastrophic' Category 4 hurricane - an even stronger storm than previously expected - as it churns toward Texas and Louisiana, gathering wind and water that now covers much of the Gulf of...
Tropical Weather
173
2020-15-26
Wednesday, 26 August 2020 06:15 AM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

View on Newsmax