Louisiana was struck by Hurricane Laura early Thursday leaving widespread destruction in the state. The storm, one of the most powerful ones in US history, has left at least six people dead and a trail of destruction with flattened buildings, flash floods and uprooted trees.
Laura, now a tropical depression, came ashore near the Texas state line as Category 4, tearing anything its path and knocking out power to thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 843,000 people in Texas and Louisiana were without power on Thursday evening.
With a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour, the storm has bested Hurricane Katarina which arrived with a wind speed of 125 mph in New Orleans in 2005.
"This was the most powerful storm to ever make landfall in Louisiana," said Governer John Bel Edwards in a news conference, adding that the storm is continuing to cause damage and life-threatening conditions.
The affected areas were littered with debris. Roofs and walls were damaged across the city with trees uprooted, twisted and broken, steel poles and lampposts bent and street signs torn from the ground.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott meanwhile said that Texas has dodged a bullet with no confirmed fatalities in the last 12 hours after Laura made landfall.
As Hurricane Laura makes its way northeast towards Arkansas with flooding rainfall and tropical forceful winds, National Hurricane Center asked residents to pay attention to the weather.
President Donald Trump is expected to visit the Gulf coast this weekend to the survey the destruction caused by the deadly storm.
