Hurricane Laura rapidly strengthened into a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane Wednesday afternoon, with landfall expected overnight along the Gulf Coast between Louisiana and Texas.
As of 2:45 p.m., Laura had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and was still strengthening approaching the coast. Landfall is expected late tonight into early Thursday morning.
1 PM CDT: #Laura is now an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane with maximum winds of 140 MPH. Little time remains to protect life and property before water levels begin to rise and winds increase in the warning areas https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/6f9tvionaR
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 26, 2020
Laura is expected to rapidly weaken over land late Thursday as it tracks northward, with rain expected across western North Carolina on Saturday. For the Outer Banks, Laura’s remnants are may bring increasing rain chances Saturday into early Sunday, the National Weather Service said. No other impacts are expected.
Laura’s threat along the Gulf Coast serves as a timely reminder to prepare for severe weather as the height of hurricane season gets underway. Learn more about preparing for severe weather at ReadyNC.org.
