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, threatening the lives of people who didn't evacuate.
Authorities had ordered coastal residents to get out, 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.
Laura hit the U.S. after killing nearly two dozen people on the island of Hispaniola, including 20 in Haiti and three in the Dominican Republic, where it knocked out power and caused intense flooding.
