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Laura now forecast to be a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane
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A United State Postal Service Employee covers a mailbox with plastic wrap after removing the last mail from it as the island prepares for possible impact from Hurricane Laura, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Galveston. The plastic wrap signals that the final mail has been cleared from the box and prevents people from placing more mail inside in case of flooding. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via AP) lessA United State Postal Service Employee covers a mailbox with plastic wrap after removing the last mail from it as the island prepares for possible impact from Hurricane Laura, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in … more
Photo: Mark Mulligan, AP
A United State Postal Service Employee covers a mailbox with plastic wrap after removing the last mail from it as the island prepares for possible impact from Hurricane Laura, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Galveston. The plastic wrap signals that the final mail has been cleared from the box and prevents people from placing more mail inside in case of flooding. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via AP) less
A United State Postal Service Employee covers a mailbox with plastic wrap after removing the last mail from it as the island prepares for possible impact from Hurricane Laura, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in … more
Photo: Mark Mulligan, AP
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Forecasters Hurricane Laura is now expected to rapidly power up into a ‘catastrophic’ Category 4 hurricane — an even stronger storm than previously expected — as it churns toward Texas and Louisiana, gathering wind and water that now covers much of the Gulf of Mexico.
Satellite images show that Laura has become “a formidable hurricane” in recent hours, threatening to smash homes and sink entire communities. It has undergone a remarkable intensification, “and there are no signs it will stop soon, with shear remaining low-to-moderate over the deep warm waters of the central Gulf of Mexico,” the National Hurricane Center said in a briefing early Wednesday.
Laura’s maximum sustained winds have increased to near 110 mph (175 kph) with higher gusts, forecasters said early Wednesday.
“We are expecting widespread power outages, trees down. Homes and businesses will be damaged,” said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is near the bullseye of Laura’s forecast track.
“I’m telling you, this is going to be a very serious situation,” Jones said.