Live: Half a million evacuated amid fears of 'unsurvivable storm surge' when storm makes landfall as Category 4
Hurricane Laura is due to hit Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday evening
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Hurricane Laura, that is due to make landfall in Louisiana and Texas on Wednesday is predicted to be ungraded to a Category 4 hurricane later today before it hits the US.
The hurricane was upgraded to a Category 3 overnight on Wednesday, but satellite images show that it has grown into "a formidable hurricane", according to the National Hurricane Centre.
It is anticipated that it could destroy homes and communities, and Stacy Stewart, a senior hurricane specialist told CBS on Wednesday that "Some areas, when they wake up Thursday morning, they're not going to believe what happened."
Follow live:
Hurricane Laura is now a major Category 3 storm with winds of 115pmh and gusts close to 130mph, as it barrels towards the Gulf Coast ahead of landfall tonight.
It is forecast to rapidly power up into a "catastrophic" Category 4 hurricane later today, intensifying as it churns towards Texas and Louisiana where it's expected to make landfall just after midnight.
Hurricane Laura was upgraded from a Tropical Storm on Monday night, after it was recorded moving at 17 mph with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, while over the Gulf of Mexico.
States in the Gulf Coast were hit by Tropical Storm Marco on Monday, but it was downgraded to a tropical depression not long after it reached land on Monday.
Laura has already killed nearly two dozen people on the island of Hispaniola, including 20 in Haiti and three in the Dominican Republic, where it caused intense flooding and destruction.
In anticipation of the hurricane reaching the US coast on Wednesday, More than half a million people were ordered to flee from an area of the Gulf Coast along the Texas-Louisiana state line.
Speaking about the possible impact of the hurricane, Kathleen Tierney, former director of the Natural Hazards Centre at the University of Colorado said: "We need to be concerned about the federal capacity to respond to a major hurricane disaster, particularly in light of failings that are all too obvious in the public health area."
After 300 rigging platforms were evacuated earlier in the week, 84 per cent of Gulf oil production and an estimated 61 per cent of natural gas production has been shut down, threatening a centre of the US energy industry.
Forecasters are predicting that Laura will be upgraded from Category 3 to Category 4 before it reaches the US coast later today.
Top winds of 130mph are now expected by the time the storm reaches the US coast, and the Hurricane Centre has predicted that it will cause major damage across 450 miles of coast from Texas to Mississippi.
The centre has predicted that "power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months."
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards has warned residents in the state that they are "only have a few hours to prepare and evacuate" before Laura hits its coast.
He added: "Wherever you are by noon is where you'll have to ride out the storm. Be smart and be safe."
The Louisiana Department of Health also reminded residents to continue with coronavirus precautions during the storm.
"Wear a mask and keep distance from those outside of your family when possible," the agency tweeted. They urged residents that if they are staying with other people, to "talk to them in advance about how can best protect yourself from Covid-19."
Judge Lina Hidalgo in Harris County, Texas has signed a disaster declaration for the county, as hurricane Laura's wind speed increases to 125mph.
The office tweeted: "This declaration will allow the county to have the maximum flexibility needed to respond and recover from."
Harris County is the third largest county in the US and has a population of more than four million people
The National Hurricane Centre has warned that hurricane Laura "continues to rapidly strengthen and it is expected to become an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane."
Laura was upgraded from a Category 1 to a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning, but is continuing to grow on its way to the US coast.
The centre added that there is "only a few hours remain to protect life and property" in both Texas and Louisiana.
At its 11am ET update, the National Hurricane Centre warned that Hurricane Laura could become "unsurvivable" for some areas of both Texas and Louisiana.
The centre said that there will be an "unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, including Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes."
It added that "only a few hours remain to protect life and property and all actions should be rushed to completion."
Phillip Klotzbach, a meteorologist at specialising in hurricane forecasts, posted a gif that shows the growth in the storm between 7:40am and 8:40am on Wednesday.
He captioned his tweet: "Since 1950, there have been 7 August Category 4+ hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico: Camille (1969), Allen (1980), Andrew (1992), Bret (1999), Charley (2004), Katrina (2005), Harvey (2017)."
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