Courtesy of Russell J. LedetBy KELLY MCCARTHY, ABC News
(LAKE CHARLES, La.) — Shortly after Good Morning America introduced a former security guard-turned-medical student on the front lines of the pandemic, Dr. Russell Ledet stepped up in the face of another crisis to help those in need after Hurricane Laura.
Following the storm’s wrath on his hometown, Ledet quickly got in touch with his team from the 15 White Coats, a nonprofit organization, to assemble help for the hard-hit, but resilient community.
“I reached out to the managers of the 15 White Coats and said, ‘We got to do something.’ So we got together $1,500 and raised another $3,500 and gave out all 5,000 of those dollars yesterday with the intention of raising more today,” Ledet told ABC News on Friday.
“I’m going down there today, but obviously I need a lot more help,” he continued. “The community of Lake Charles is truly a melting pot. We work together, we are a blue-collar community and we do everything we can to try to help each other and this is a time where our resilience will be tested, but as the 15 White Coats say, ‘resilience is in our DNA’ and I know we’ll bounce back.”
Laura thrashed through Louisiana with wind gusts of 137 mph in Lake Charles leaving a path of destruction in its wake and killed at least six people, but now the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression as the city works to assess the damage.
Hurricane Laura remnants heading toward Northeast
Ledet spoke with Nic Hunter, the mayor of Lake Charles, who told him the city is in need of tarps, chainsaws, generators and “a lot of water because our entire water plant is destroyed.”
The U.S. Navy veteran with a Ph.D. in molecular oncology from New York University and now second-year MBA-MD student at Tulane University School of Medicine and A.B. Freeman School of Business said he has since got in touch with his family after the storm.
“I was finally able to talk to my dad but it was only a few minutes because reception was terrible,” he said. “I’m doing everything I can, losing a lot of sleep, but I’m okay with that because my city needs a lot of help.”
Ledet doubled down on the calls for help and highlighted the work he will do to collect and distribute donations.
“We need to help families in the city. I’m giving out of my personal money as well as from the 15 White Coats because they need help,” he said adding that he will be there with some of his med school classmates “to clean up the streets and help whoever we can, try to help in whatever way we can.”
“People can help by going to the15whitecoats.org and hit the donate button and earmark them all for hurricane relief for Hurricane Laura,” he said of how to help directly. “We’ll make sure that 100% of those donations goes straight to the people and city of Lake Charles as well as surrounding areas because many of the surrounding areas have been affected, like DeQuincy, Louisiana, where my wife is from.”
Ledet also said that one way to get involved from a distance is to send bottled water to 2701 19th St., Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he will be helping out.
“There’s a big parking lot right next to my dad’s house and he’s willing to let people send whatever they can there, but mostly donations can come through the15whitecoats.org,” he reiterated.
ABC NewsBy LAUREN LANTRY and MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Rand Paul claimed he was “attacked by an angry mob” early Friday morning in Washington, D.C., while walking with his wife from the White House after listening to President Donald Trump’s closing remarks at the Republican National Convention.
“Just got attacked by an angry mob of over 100, one block away from the White House,” Paul said in a post on Twitter, while thanking the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia for “literally saving our lives from a crazed mob.”
Just got attacked by an angry mob of over 100, one block away from the White House. Thank you to @DCPoliceDept for literally saving our lives from a crazed mob.
In one video taken by a bystander who posted it on social media, Paul and his wife Kelley are seen being escorted by police through a rowdy crowd of protesters as the officers shout, “move back.” Some protesters can be heard yelling, “say her name” and “Breonna Taylor.”
The Republican senator represents Kentucky where Taylor, an unarmed 26-year-old Black woman, was shot to death by police at her home in March.
The officer flanked to Paul’s left is seen using his bicycle to hold back protesters. At one point, the officer appears to push a protester with his bike and the individual pushes back hard enough to cause the officer to lose his balance. Paul braces the officer with his arm to keep him from falling.
The video doesn’t seem to show Paul or his wife being touched by any protesters. The couple also did not appear to be injured.
Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter early Friday to weigh in on the incident, calling it “horrific.”
(ELIZABETH, N.J.) — New Jersey officials approved a piece of land to build a monument dedicated to transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson in her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The monument would be the first in the country to honor a transgender person, according to Union County officials.
City and county officials met with members of the Johnson family on Thursday afternoon to formally announce that the space had been approved, Union County officials told ABC News.
The Johnson family was instrumental in the proposal for the monument, which will be located across the street from the Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy near the city’s downtown area.
“Today, the family of Elizabeth native and LGBTQ+ Civil Rights activist Marsha P. Johnson was joined by Union County Freeholders and LGBTQ+ advocates to announce the future site of a public monument on Freedom Trail in the City of Elizabeth in Johnson’s honor,” the county wrote in a statement. “The monument is anticipated to be the first public monument in the State of New Jersey to honor a LGBTQ+ person and transgender woman of color.”
The Johnson family is scheduled to host events in partnership with Union County Freeholders, the City of Elizabeth, Garden State Equality and the Office of LGBTQ Affairs “during LGBTQ History Month (October, 2020) to engage with the community and the public to participate in the planning and creating of the historic project,” the statement said.
Johnson, an early and outspoken advocate for transgender women of color, is widely credited with helping start the Stonewall uprising in 1969.
New York City police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, on June 28, 1969, to enforce a discriminatory law that made it illegal to serve alcohol to gay people. Johnson and others fought back, helping spawn the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement.
Johnson founded the Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries — a group aimed at helping homeless transgender youth — before she died tragically at the age of 46 in 1992, when her body was found floating in the Hudson River. Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but police reopened the investigation in 2012 amid calls from her family, who claimed foul play. The circumstances of her death remain unsolved.
The announcement came just days after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo dedicated the East River State Park in Brooklyn to Johnson, making it the country’s first state park to honor an LGBTQ person, according to the state.
Cuomo made the announcement last Monday, on what would have been the transgender civil rights icon’s 75th birthday.
“I’m proud to announce the dedication of East River State Park in Brooklyn to #MarshaPJohnson. Today, Marsha P. Johnson State Park becomes the first State Park to honor an LGBTQ person,” Cuomo tweeted. “NY is indebted to her for her brave advocacy and relentless fight for LGBTQ equality.”
The state plans to improve the park’s facilities and install public art celebrating Johnson’s life and her role in the advancement of LGBTQ rights, according to a statement, which called the move the largest investment in the park’s history.
Cuomo said the state wanted to honor Johnson’s work to make sure that her memory lives on forever.
“Too often, the marginalized voices that have pushed progress forward in New York and across the country go unrecognized, making up just a fraction of our public memorials and monuments,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Marsha P. Johnson was one of the early leaders of the LGBTQ movement, and is only now getting the acknowledgement she deserves. Dedicating this state park for her, and installing public art telling her story, will ensure her memory and her work fighting for equality lives on.”
New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the current social climate made this the right time to honor Johnson, who she called an “LGBTQ hero.”
“With the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, now more than ever we must continue the fight for LGBTQ equality and racial justice in our society,” Hochul said. “We have come a long way with the passage of GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act) and legalizing gestational surrogacy, but we still have more work to do to combat division and hate and achieve true equality for all.”
Scott Olson/Getty ImagesBy BILL HUTCHISON, ABC News
(KENOSHA, Wis.) — National civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson is joining the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man shot multiple times in the back by a police officer, in calling for prosecutors to indict the officer and others involved in the incident that has sparked violent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
During a news conference Thursday organized in Kenosha by local officials of the NAACP, the 78-year-old Jackson encouraged protesters to keep marching until justice is served and implored the white community and white churches to condemn Blake’s shooting and the fatal shootings that occurred at a protest this week in Kenosha.
“We’re going to march, were going to protest, nonviolent and disciplined and in big numbers, until these men are in jail,” Jackson said of the police officers involved in the incident in which Blake, 29, was shot.
Responding to a 17-year-old white suspect arrested in a shooting at a protest in Kenosha on Tuesday night that left two men dead and one wounded, Jackson said, “White citizens should not provide sanctuary for this kind of killing.”
“It’s not about black and white. It’s about wrong and right,” Jackson said.
Blake’s family has called for the officers involved in the incident that has left Blake paralyzed from the waist down to be terminated from the police force and for the officer who shot him to be charged with attempted murder.
On Wednesday night, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, which is spearheading the probe of Blake’s shooting, identified the officer who shot the father of six as Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year member of the Kenosha Police Department. Officials said Sheskey is the only officer who fired his gun. The officials said Blake had a knife on him when he was shot.
A cellphone video of the shooting showed at least two other officers involved in the incident, in which a stun gun was also deployed on Blake. Those officers have not been identified.
Sheskey and other officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation.
Following three consecutive nights of destructive violence in Kenosha, calm appeared to return to the city as protesters took to the streets again Wednesday night to peacefully demand justice for Blake.
Police and 500 National Guard troops patrolled the city Wednesday night, monitoring a protest that went on well past a 7 p.m. curfew instituted by city leaders.
For the first night this week, police refrained from deploying tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at the crowd that appeared more subdued than on previous nights when multiple businesses were torched or looted.
“Crowds last night were small. There were a few hundred people and they walked peacefully through Kenosha and they did exactly what they wanted to do as far as the protest to make people know their concerns, but they did it without violence,” Sheriff David Beth of the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
“I think the people that were here last night were Kenosha’s people,” Beth said. “We didn’t see streams of cars coming in from out of Kenosha County. A huge part of me thinks that a lot of our issues start when different people with different agendas come here to Kenosha.”
Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis thanked protesters for remaining peaceful on Wednesday night, saying, “The voices of those people is not falling on deaf ears.”
“We are hearing what has been said,” Miskinis said.
Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said the city is in the process of establishing a number of committees to come up with ways to identify and eliminate systemic racism “and dealing with how we’re going to improve our community and give everyone a voice.”
The city leaders declined to discuss any development in the investigations of Blake’s shooting or the arrest of the teenager in the double homicide that occurred at Tuesday’s protest.
Wednesday’s peaceful protest march came a night after three people were shot, two fatally, during a chaotic demonstration. Investigators identified the white 17-year-old alleged gunman as Kyle Rittenhouse of Illinois, who authorities said was one of several armed vigilantes who came to the city from out of town to help protect businesses.
Rittenhouse was arrested when he surrendered to police in Antioch, Illinois, officials said. He is expected to be charged as an adult with at least one count of first-degree intentional murder, authorities said.
Attorney John Pierce of Los Angeles told ABC News that he has been retained to represent Rittenhouse.
“We will obtain justice for Kyle,” said Pierce, adding he was headed to Wisconsin Thursday night to meet with his client’s family and appear at Rittenhouse’s bail hearing on Friday.
Pierce said he has established a legal defense fund for Rittenhouse through a Texas 501(c)(4) nonprofit called #FightBack Foundation Inc. that was formed by him and Georgia attorney L. Lin Wood.
“That will be the sole authorized vehicle to fund Kyle’s defense,” Pierce said.
City officials and Blake’s mother pleaded for calm to be restored to the community, where merchants boarded windows after some businesses were burned to the ground earlier this week.
Blake’s shooting prompted the NBA to postpone playoff games slatted for Wednesday night when players decided to stage a boycott in response to the shooting. The WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer also postponed games that had been scheduled for Wednesday night. The National Hockey League decided to postpone playoff games scheduled for Thursday night, according to ESPN.
While calm appeared to be restored to Kenosha, violence reigned elsewhere.
In Oakland, California, a protest over Blake’s shooting turned destructive when police said a group of agitators among the peaceful demonstrators began breaking windows of business, shooting off fireworks, hurling objects at police and setting trash cans on fire while yelling “Burn it down,” ABC San Francisco station KGO-TV reported. Police said multiple arrests were made.
In Minneapolis, where the wave of nationwide protests began in May with the death of George Floyd while in police custody, demonstrators took to the streets, some looting and vandalizing, after social media posts wrongly claimed officers fatally shot a Black man who police alleged died by suicide following his involvement in a homicide. Minneapolis police said that at least six people were arrested.
ABC NewsBy WILLIAM MANSELL, DANIEL MANZO and MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Laura is barreling inland across the southeastern United States as a powerful tempest with an “unsurvivable storm surge” expected in some areas, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border early Thursday as a Category 4 major hurricane with a maximum sustained wind speed of 150 mph.
“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,” the weather service said in a statement early Thursday. “This surge could penetrate up to 30 miles inland from the immediate coastline. Only a few hours remain to protect life and property and all actions should be rushed to completion.”
Parts of eastern Texas and western Louisiana are forecast to see “catastrophic wind damage,” especially in places where the storm’s eyewall came ashore, the National Hurricane Center said. Residents in affected areas were urged to evacuate and brace for damaging winds and flooding rainfall that will spread well inland across parts of those areas.
Here’s how the news is developing today. All times Eastern:
2:10 p.m.: Cameron Parish begins assessing damage left behind
Emergency officials in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, have begun assessing damage caused by strong winds and reported tornadoes in the area. Officials said they had a lot of structural damages, but feel they were very lucky because they don’t have as much water damage as feared. They said they hadn’t reached out to all the residents who stayed behind, but there had been no real rescue calls reported, just welfare checks.
Officials will conduct a flyover examination with the governor this afternoon to further assess. 1:50 p.m.: Some 731,436 left without power
At least 731,436 customers in Louisiana and Texas were left without power as of Thursday afternoon, up from 671,307 earlier, as officials worked to recover in the wake of coastal storm surges and destructive flash flooding.
Louisiana saw the bulk of the outages with 596,976, while Texas reported about 134,460, down from about 137,376 earlier.
1:20 p.m.: Authorities battle chemical leak in storm’s wake
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards urged residents to stay inside, close their doors and turn off air conditioning units as authorities battled a reported chemical fire just west of Lake Charles.
The fire at the BioLab chemical manufacturing facility in Westlake, Louisiana, was reported early Thursday as emergency officials battled the effects of Hurricane Laura. Louisiana State Police Emergency Services Unit described the fire as a “a hazardous material incident involving a chlorine leak” in the wake of the storm.
Residents in the area were advised to shelter in place and avoid unnecessary travel until further notice. 1 p.m.: Laura weakens further to tropical storm
Laura weakened to a tropical storm early Thursday afternoon with sustained winds of 70 mph. It was last moving north at about 15 mph. The storm’s center is roughly 50 miles east southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana. The storm blanketed southern Arkansas with heavy rain and strong gusty winds as it moved northward, bringing the threat of flash flooding. Flash flood warnings remain in effect across northwestern Louisiana, where the heavy rain just moved through over the past few hours.
12:50 p.m.: President Trump approves Arkansas emergency declaration
President Donald Trump approved Arkansas’ request for federal emergency assistance as Hurricane Laura makes its way toward the state.
The order authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts “which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population,” FEMA said in a statement.
Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency, FEMA said.
12:10 p.m.: More than 671,000 left without power in Laura’s wake
At least 671,307 residents in Louisiana and Texas were left without power as of Thursday afternoon as officials worked to recover in the wake of coastal storm surges and destructive flash flooding.
Louisiana saw the bulk of the outages with 553,931, while Texas reported about 137,376.
11:20 a.m.: Laura continues to weaken, damaging winds and flooding spreads inland
As of late Thursday morning, Hurricane Laura had weakened to a Category 1 with winds of about 75 mph, bringing it closer to tropical storm territory. Flooding is still a major concern as high water levels were still being reported along portions of the Gulf Coast.
It’s forecast to weaken to a tropical storm within the next few hours and track northeast toward Arkansas before moving southwest toward Missouri overnight. Forecasters said it will likely be downgraded to a tropical depression by early Friday morning. 11:00 a.m.: President Trump ‘commitment’ to aiding affected communities
President Donald Trump has been receiving “regular updates” on Hurricane Laura amid ongoing preparations for a major White House celebration Thursday night to close out the RNC, according to the White House.
“As we begin to assess the damage, please continue to heed the warnings and instructions of your State and local officials as storm hazards will persist long after the storm has passed,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement. “Hurricane Laura remains a deadly hurricane with devastating coastal storm surges, destructive winds, and flash flooding.” “President Trump is committed to deploying the full resources of the Federal Government to rescue those in distress, support those in the region affected, and restore disruptions to our communities and infrastructure,” she added.
The president is scheduled to meet with FEMA officials Thursday afternoon.
10:37 a.m.: 634,021 customers without power in Louisiana and Texas
The number of people without power in Louisiana and Texas continued to climb Thursday morning as Hurricane Laura churned further inland.
By 10:33 a.m. Eastern Time, there were 507,262 customers without power in Louisiana and 126,759 customers without power in Texas, according to PowerOutage.US.
Images from the affected areas show dozens of downed power lines, debris strewn in the streets and damaged buildings with blown-out windows.
10:24 a.m.: Hurricane Laura weakens to a Category 1 with a ‘life-threatening storm surge’
Hurricane Laura is now a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
However, damaging winds and flooding rainfall are still spreading inland over western and central Louisiana, while a “life-threatening storm surge continues along much of the Louisiana coastline,” the weather service warned in its forecast at 9 a.m. Central Time. 9:41 a.m.: Louisiana governor reports 1st known storm-related death
A 14-year-old girl in Louisiana is the first known fatality from Hurricane Laura, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Edwards confirmed the death during an interview Thursday morning with MSNBC, saying that the girl died when a tree fell on her home in the Leesville area.
“I suspect that won’t be the last, though I pray we don’t have any more,” Edwards told MSNBC. “But we know we have at least one fatality now in Louisiana.”
9:25 a.m.: 508,109 customers without power in Louisiana and Texas
Power outages across Louisiana and Texas climbed to more than half a million customers on Thursday morning, as Hurricane Laura battered the coastline.
By 8:15 a.m. ET, there were 403,921 customers without power in Louisiana and 104,188 customers without power in Texas.
8:30 a.m.: ‘Those evacuations did save lives,’ Texas governor says
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said no deaths have been reported in the state so far, which he noted was “really premature” as Hurricane Laura “continues to sweep through Texas in an unprecedented fashion.”
“Because it’s not just where the surge came in, but going up north and Jasper and Center Texas, all the way up to Marshall, Texas,” Abbott told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “So in northeast Texas, a hurricane is going through there for as far as I know the first time ever, so this is truly unprecedented.”
As many as 10,000 people have evacuated their homes in Texas, particularly in the southeastern area of the state along the coast and near the border with Louisiana, according to Abbott.
“It could have been a lifesaver,” he said. “That may be one reason why we don’t have any reports of loss of life yet. We still don’t know how many people may be injured. We will be learning that here shortly as the sun rises, and we have search and rescue teams in place to make sure that everybody is going to be safe.”
Abbott emphasized the importance of early evacuations ahead of a powerful hurricane like Laura.
Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said he’s heard of dozens of families who didn’t heed evacuation orders and decided to stay behind.
“Some people just don’t want to leave their belongings,” Nungesser told ABC News in an interview Thursday on ABC News’ Good Morning America. “It’s hard to get them to leave sometimes.”
Nungesser recalled his own decision to ride out Hurricane Katrina back in 2005, as the large Category 5 storm battered New Orleans.
“I know what I went through,” he said. “Not a good decision.”
Emergency crews will be dispatched to check on residents and survey the damage “as soon as it’s safe” to do so, according to the lieutenant governor.
“We’re hopeful that we don’t find people that didn’t make it,” he added.
7:18 a.m.: Woman describes moment storm rips roof off home as family hides under kitchen table
Ashley Thompson and her family decided to ride out the hurricane at their home in Louisiana, where many residents were ordered to evacuate.
“We thought we were safe. We had generators, we had windows boarded up,” Thompson said in telephone interview Thursday on ABC News’ Good Morning America.
But the storm ended up being “much worse” than they thought, she said. The winds picked up in the early morning hours around 2 a.m., as Hurricane Laura made landfall on Louisiana’s shores as a Category 4.
“We got our family in our home under the kitchen table,” she said. “After being under the kitchen table for about five minutes, we lost our roof.”
Thompson and her family ran from their home and broke into a nearby house that was empty and under construction. They took cover there with other families in the neighborhood who were also riding out the storm.
Thompson said there are felled trees and power lines in their neighborhood and they hope first responders will come as soon as weather conditions improve.
“We are safe and everyone is unhurt,” she said. “But when they become available and people start moving, we will need help.”
6:22 a.m.: Laura weakens to Category 2 hurricane, hundreds of thousands without power in Texas, Louisiana
Laura weakened further Thursday morning and is now a Category 2 hurricane with winds up to 110 mph. Hurricane conditions are spreading farther inland across southwestern Louisiana.
Hurricane Laura is now about 45 miles north, northwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and is still moving north at 15 mph.
Alexandria, Louisiana, is seeing wind gusts up to 85 mph while winds at Beauregard Regional Airport are gusting to 82 mph.
There is still a tornado watch in effect for much of Louisiana, eastern Texas, and southwest Mississippi. This tornado watch is in effect still until 8 a.m.
As the storm barreled through the Gulf Coast, more than 382,000 people are without power in Texas (61,153) and Louisiana (231,944).
Much of Louisiana is now under Flash Flood Warnings, with as much as 4-5 inches of rain.
5:05 a.m.: Laura now a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 120 mph
Hurricane Laura is now a Category 3 storm with winds up to 120 mph.
It is moving northward through Louisiana as catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding continue.
Despite the storm being a Category 3 now, the National Hurricane Center said Laura can still cause an “unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves.” The damage, according to the NHC, will cause “catastrophic damage” and floodwaters are not expected to recede for several days.
Hurricane-force winds are expected to continue Thursday morning with catastrophic wind damage expected nears Laura’s eyewall, according to the NHC.
“Hurricane-force winds and widespread damaging wind gusts will continue to spread well inland into portions of extreme eastern Texas and western Louisiana through the day,” NHC said in its 5 a.m. advisory.
The storm is about 30 miles north, northwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Laura is still moving north at 15 mph and the hurricane-force winds extend 60 miles from its center.
4:15 a.m.: First damage reports come in, more than 290,000 without power
Hurricane Laura may be slightly weakening as it moves north over land, but it’s still churning with winds up to 130 mph. Now more than 290,000 customers are without power in Louisiana (231,944) and Texas (61,153).
On live radar, you can see the eye moving north of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hurricane winds are likely extending well into Louisiana now. An extreme wind warning has been extended until 5 a.m. ET.
The storm is about 15 miles west, northwest of Lake Charles and is moving north at 15 mph.
A tornado watch for the region, which includes New Orleans, remains in effect until 9 a.m. Other tornado warnings are well removed from the center of the hurricane, showing how strong this storm is.
Reports of damage in Lake Charles include damage to hotels, skyscrapers and to the Golden Nugget Casino.
Hurricane Laura is still a Category 4 storm as it batters Lake Charles, Louisiana, early Thursday with winds up to 132 mph.
The extreme wind warning in the area has been extended until 4 a.m. Lake Charles has seen sustained winds of 100 mph for almost an hour.
A storm surge of more than 9 feet is being reported in Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana.
ABC News station KTRK-TV in Houston has reporters on the ground showcasing the strong winds in Lake Charles as the eye approaches.
2:49 a.m.: Thousands already without power as Hurricane Laura hits Gulf
As of 2:30 a.m., more than 129,000 customers are without power in Louisiana and Texas due to Hurricane Laura. In Louisiana, there are at least 109,811 customers with no electricity and 19,270 in Texas.
As the storm moves north, a tropical storm warning has been issued as far north as Arkansas and a flash flood watch has been issued for Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee.
The National Hurricane Center said Laura made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and minimum central pressure of 938 millibars. It said the potentially catastrophic impacts would continue.
The northern eyewall is moving over Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Lake Charles is currently seeing wind gusts of 128 mph.
2:05 a.m.: Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Louisiana
Hurricane Laura is moving over Louisiana overnight with wind gusts of 110 in Cameron, Louisiana, catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding.
Laura is now 30 miles south, southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The hurricane is moving north at 15 mph, where winds are still reaching 150 mph.
Forecasts show up to 20 feet of storm surge is expected. This could go up to 40 miles inland in parts of the Southern Louisiana Coastline. This is a catastrophic forecast.
“The eyewall of Laura is moving onshore over southwest Louisiana. Take cover now,” the National Hurricane Center said in its 1 a.m. forecast. “Treat these imminent extreme winds as if a tornado was approaching and move immediately to the safe room in your shelter. Take action now to protect your life.”
There have been two reported tornadoes due to this storm.
Courtesy of Russell J. LedetBy KELLY MCCARTHY, ABC News
