As of 11 a.m. Eastern time, Laura had maximum sustained
winds of 125 mph, up from 110 mph at the 5 a.m. advisory. The Category 3
hurricane is centered 235 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving northwest
at 16 mph.
Growing in intensity overnight, Laura is predicted to become a “catastrophic” Category 4 before it hits landfall somewhere between Houston, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, Laura will bring widespread heavy rains of 5 to 10 inches with some areas getting as much as 15 inches. Hurricane-force winds could reach over 120 MPH at the coast and make it far inland once the storm moves ashore into Thursday morning.
More than 385,000 residents were ordered to leave the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, while an additional 200,000 were told to evacuate Calcasieu Parish in south-western Louisiana.
This is a fluid situation as with all weather predictions. We will keep you posted.