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Hundreds of thousands flee US coast ahead of Hurricane Laura

More than half a million people have been ordered to evacuate the Texas and Louisiana coasts ahead of Hurricane Laura.

NEW ORLEANS — In the largest U.S. evacuation of the pandemic, more than half a million people were ordered to flee the Gulf Coast on Tuesday as Laura strengthened into a hurricane that forecasters said could slam Texas and Louisiana with ferocious winds, heavy flooding and the power to push seawater miles inland.

More than 385,000 residents were told to flee the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, and another 200,000 were ordered to leave low-lying Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana, where forecasters said as much as 13 feet (3.96 meters) of storm surge topped by waves could submerge whole communities.

The National Hurricane Center projected that Laura would draw energy from warm Gulf waters and become a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, with winds of around 115 mph (185 kph). The strengthening may slow or stop just before landfall, forecasters said.

“The waters are warm enough everywhere there to support a major hurricane, Category 3 or even higher. The waters are very warm where the storm is now and will be for the entire path up until the Gulf Coast,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Ed Rappaport said.

Credit: AP
Workers board up windows at the Galvez Hotel & Spa Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Galveston, Texas, as Hurricane Laura heads toward the Gulf Coast. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Ocean water was expected to push onto land along more than 450 miles of coast from Texas to Mississippi. Hurricane warnings were issued from San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, and storm surge warnings from the Port Arthur, Texas, flood protection system to the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The evacuations could get even bigger if the storm's track veers to the east or west, said Craig Fugate, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Officials urged people to stay with relatives or in hotel rooms to avoid spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Buses were stocked with protective equipment and disinfectant, and they would carry fewer passengers to keep people apart, Texas officials said.

Whitney Frazier, 29, of Beaumont spent Tuesday morning trying to get transportation to a high school where she could board a bus to leave the area.

“Especially with everything with COVID going on already on top of a mandatory evacuation, it’s very stressful,” Frazier said.

The storm also imperiled a center of the U.S. energy industry. Oil refineries and liquefied natural gas plants that dot the region could shut down along the coast, and the government said workers were removed from more than 40% of the 643 platforms that are normally staffed in the Gulf.

While oil prices often spike before a major storm as production slows, consumers are unlikely to see big price changes because the pandemic decimated demand for fuel.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Laura was 480 miles (770 kilometers) southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, traveling northwest at 17 mph (28 kmh). Its peak winds were 80 mph (130 kph).

Laura passed Cuba 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. The deaths reportedly included a 10-year-old girl whose home was hit by a tree and a mother and young son crushed by a collapsing wall.

As much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain could fall in some parts of Louisiana, said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

RELATED: Hurricane Laura: Storm intensifies as it enters the Gulf, could be a Category 3 at landfall

RELATED: NOAA: Laura becomes Category 1 hurricane

At Grand Isle, Louisiana, Nicole Fantiny said she planned to ride out the hurricane on the barrier island along with a few dozen other people.

“It could still change, but we keep on hoping and praying that it keeps on going further west like it’s doing,” said Fantiny, who manages a restaurant.

Marco, a system that approached land ahead of Laura, weakened into a remnant just off Louisiana’s shore on Tuesday. Satellite images showed a disorganized cluster of clouds, what meteorologists call “a naked swirl,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, Laura powered up. The crew of a hurricane hunter plane confirmed that Laura became a hurricane shortly after passing between the western tip of Cuba and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

In Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas, mandatory evacuation orders went into effect shortly before daybreak Tuesday. "If you decide to stay, you’re staying on your own,” Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie said.

Credit: AP
Evacuees, from right to left, Tommie McNeil, Elisabeth Pelham, Nota Norris, and a woman who did not want to be identified, wait to board a bus as they evacuate, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Galveston, Texas. The evacuees are being taken to Austin, Texas, as Hurricane Laura heads toward the Gulf Coast. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Shelters opened with cots set farther apart to curb coronavirus infections. People planning to enter shelters were told to bring just one bag of personal belongings each, and a mask to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

“Hopefully it’s not that threatening to people, to lives, because people are hesitant to go anywhere due to COVID,” Robert Duffy said as he placed sandbags around his home in Morgan City, Louisiana. “Nobody wants to sleep on a gym floor with 200 other people. It’s kind of hard to do social distancing.”

Officials in Houston asked residents to prepare supplies in case they lose power for a few days or need to evacuate homes along the coast. Some in the area are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey three years ago.

Laura's arrival comes just days before the Aug. 29 anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which breached the levees in New Orleans, flattened much of the Mississippi coast and killed as many as 1,800 people in 2005. Less than a month later, Hurricane Rita struck southwest Louisiana as a Category 3 storm.

Credit: AP
Issac Alvarado boards up windows of coastal decor store Bayside Chic, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Galveston, Texas, as Hurricane Laura heads toward the Gulf Coast. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Laura wasn't much of a concern for Kerry Joe Richard of Stephensville, Louisiana. As the storm approached, he was angling for catfish from a small dock overlooking the bayou that's behind his elevated wood-frame home.

“The only thing I’m worried about is if the fish quit biting,” he said.

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Plaisance reported from Stephensville, Louisiana. Associated Press writers Juan Lozano in Houston; Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia; Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge; Louisiana; Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Cathy Bussewitz in New York; and Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

Credit: AP
Cesar Reyes, right, carries a sheet of plywood to cut to size as he and Robert Aparicio, left, and Manuel Sepulveda, not pictured, install window coverings at Strand Brass and Christmas on the Strand, 2115 Strand St., in Galveston on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Ginger Herter, who manages the shop, was erring on the side of caution boarding up the storefront as she waits to see what path Tropical Storm Laura will take as it heads toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts. "I'd rather do this and have to take them down rather than scramble to get them up later in the week," she said. ( Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Daily News via AP)

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