Hurricane Laura continued to strengthen this Wednesday and has almost reached category 5 within hours of making landfall on the US shores of the Gulf of Mexico with sustained winds of up to 150 miles per hour, making it a very dangerous hurricane.
Meteorologists from the National Hurricane Center have warned that there is "very little time left to protect life and property" in the area of East Texas and West Louisiana where the phenomenon will impact.
Homeland Security Secretary Alex Azar has issued an emergency declaration for these two states as Laura approaches and threatens catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flooding.
Satellite image of Hurricane Laura taken by NOAA on August 26, 2020 at 2:40 p.m. ET.
Laura was 95 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana (at 8 p.m. ET), where tropical rains and high winds have already started to be felt.
Sea level is rising rapidly along Louisiana's central coast, where forecasters warned that "un-survivable" storm surge could occur up to 20 feet high .
Given the danger of the powerful cyclone, more than half a million people on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico received evacuation orders, after Storm Laura turned into a hurricane on Tuesday.
The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, described Hurricane Laura as an "insurmountable storm" and urged the population of the coast to evacuate as soon as possible because they only have a few hours to leave their homes.
“For the areas in southeast Texas, which will be closer to where the hurricane can hit, those people still have only about five hours to evacuate. There have been reports from local county judges, as well as other officials ... about the number of people who have not yet been evacuated, "Abbott said.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, on Wednesday, urged the population to evacuate coastal areas as soon as possible to avoid displacements that could put their lives in danger.
He later ordered the closure of Interstate 10 from the Atchafalaya Bridge outside of Lafayette to the part that connects with Texas, because several sections within that area are expected to flood.
"This storm surge is going to be terrible," said Edwards, who noted that the state had not suffered from these types of tides in decades. Sea level has already started to rise hours before Laura makes landfall in the region.
He also warned of tornadoes that Laura's powerful vortex could cause .