Laura intensified into a strong Category 4 hurricane yesterday as it raced over evacuated oil production platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and took aim at the energy industry’s refining hub along the Texas/Louisiana coast, Reuters reported. The storm gathered strength on Wednesday and is forecast to bring heavy rains and catastrophic, 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds that will drive ocean waters up to 40 miles (64 km) inland, U.S. forecasters said in a late-day advisory. More than 600,000 people in the two states fled the storm, clogging highways and filled hotels in a rush to avoid the storm and shelters. Both states secured hotel rooms for evacuees and warned residents to avoid traveling overnight. Landfall is expected at about midnight and could push an “unsurvivable” 20-foot wall of water against the coast south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center warned. The storm’s track and power resembles 2005’s Hurricane Rita, which caused more than $18 billion in damages and killed more than 120 people, many during a hurried Texas evacuation.
