Like a «jet engine»
By Von Lena Klimkeit, Andrej Sokolow, Laura Almanza & dpa
Thu, 27 August 2020 at 18:20
Foci
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Cameron (AP) – Following urgent warnings, the extremely dangerous hurricane “Laura” hit the US mainland on the Gulf of Mexico with wind speeds of 240 kilometers per hour.
In the dark of Thursday night, the hurricane caused considerable damage in parts of the states of Louisiana and Texas, which gradually became visible at daybreak: The force of the storm covered roofs, tore away the facades of houses and caused electricity pylons and trees to buckle. Sea water flooded the coast far inland.
A 14-year-old did not survive the storm in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, a spokeswoman for the governor confirmed. A tree fell on the family home. In Texas there was initially no evidence of fatalities, as Governor Greg Abbott told Fox News in the morning. “That was the ultimate goal.”
Meteorologists continued to warn of flooding caused by heavy rain, destructive winds and dangerous storm surges. According to US media reports, hundreds of thousands of households were without electricity. US President Donald Trump wanted to be informed of the situation by the civil protection department later on Thursday, the White House announced. “Now is not the time for sightseeing,” warned Louisiana’s Governor John Bel Edwards. The danger has not yet been averted.
A whistle was heard when the hurricane hit Sulfur in Louisiana, wrote hurricane hunter Josh Morgerman on Twitter in the early hours of the morning. One of his videos shows how the storm lashed the rain masses in front of it – in the light of a street lamp it looked like swirls of fog moving quickly. People like Morgerman are in imminent danger of the storms regardless of the warnings.
The authorities had ordered hundreds of thousands of people to get to safety. The closer the storm got to the US coast on Wednesday, the more urgent the warnings became. “Now take cover,” wrote the National Hurricane Center at last. It is a “life-threatening situation”.
The hurricane sounds like “a roaring jet engine”, a reporter for the television station CNN described the situation in Lake Charles (Louisiana). The hurricane caused even the most stable buildings to tremble and broken glass flew through the air. Window panes of a massive skyscraper in the town could not withstand the force of the storm, as was visible in daylight.
Louisiana was hit by the storm on a large scale. And the state has had traumatic experiences with cyclones. Almost exactly 15 years ago – on August 29 – «Katrina» haunted him: a hurricane of the highest category five with winds of a speed of up to 280 kilometers per hour. “Katrina” caused damage of historical proportions, a museum in New Orleans commemorates the disaster. A good 80 percent of the big city was flooded. “Katrina” killed a total of more than 1,800 people, hundreds were missing. In the US there were only two storms with more deaths. But the “Okeechobee hurricane” with around 4,000 victims was in 1928 and the “Galveston hurricane” with up to 12,000 deaths in 1900.
“Katrina” was followed by “Rita” – and “Laura” now took a route similar to that of the hurricane at the time. Given a strength of four out of five, the hurricane center spoke of an “extremely dangerous hurricane”. Warnings were given against “devastating” damage and storm surges “that cannot be survived”. There will be no electricity or water for several days or weeks. Violent winds and flooding threatened the state of Arkansas as well.
Authorities had warned that due to the flooding, many places may not be accessible until Friday or Saturday. The sheriff in Vermilion Parish not far from Lake Charles had given a gloomy tip on Facebook to the people who, contrary to the warnings, stayed in their homes. “If you decide to stay and we can’t reach you, write down your name, address, social security number and your next of kin and put (the note) in a zip-lock bag in your pocket.” Expect the worst and pray for the best.
“Laura” weakened quickly over the mainland on Thursday, as expected, but remained dangerous. The cyclone had quickly gained strength over unusually warm seawater and was upgraded from category two to category four within a few hours on Wednesday. This made “Laura” the first very strong hurricane of the season.
The US climate agency NOAA predicts that 2020 could be a record year for hurricanes. 19 to 25 storms are expected, of which seven to eleven could become hurricanes, three to six even very strong with wind speeds of 178 kilometers per hour and more. In average years there are twelve storms on the Atlantic coast, three of which develop into category three, four or five hurricanes.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200825-99-295801 / 17
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