RAW: Hurricane Laura slams Louisiana coast as Category 4

Hurricane Laura pounded the Gulf Coast for hours with ferocious winds, torrential rains and rising seawater as it roared ashore over southwestern Louisiana near the Texas border early Thursday as a life-threatening storm.

Authorities had ordered coastal residents to evacuate, but not everyone did in an area that was devastated by Rita in 2005.

Videos on social media showed Laura’s winds battering a tall building in Lake Charles, blowing out windows as glass and debris flew to the ground.

“There are some people still in town and people are calling ... but there ain’t no way to get to them,” Tony Guillory, president of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, said early Thursday morning over the phone as he hunkered down in a Lake Charles government building that was shaking from the storm.

Guillory said he hopes those stranded can be rescued later Thursday but he fears that blocked roads, downed power lines and flooding could delay that process. With more than 290,000 homes and businesses without power in the two states, near-constant lightning provided the only light for some.

Officials said search and rescue missions would begin as soon as conditions allowed, along with damage assessments. The National Hurricane Center said the storm, which intensified rapidly Wednesday before plowing into land with sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph), came ashore at 1 a.m. CDT as a Category 4 hurricane near Cameron, a 400-person community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the Texas border. #Laura #HurricaneLaura