LEESBURG, La. – Laura is now a Category 1 hurricane but still blowing hard enough to be deadly.
The first reported death was of a Louisiana girl whose house was hit by a tree.
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Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the 14-year-old girl died in Leesville, more than 100 miles inland from the coast.
The governors of Louisiana and Texas say search and rescue teams are still looking, but they’ve found no reports so far of widespread fatalities.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is crediting the evacuations of thousands of people for preventing deaths in Texas. Edwards says they are only beginning to assess the damage.
Both governors say the storm surge appears to have been not as bad as they feared.
Abbott said the hurricane’s storm surge hit the east Texas communities of Port Arthur, Beaumont and Orange “pretty hard” overnight and the eye of the hurricane has continued to move about 100 miles north along the Texas-Louisiana state line.
Damage along the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Laura appears to be less than was feared before the storm hit, officials say. One death has been reported. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said a 14-year-old girl who died when a tree fell on her home. https://t.co/CCUNIYwV6a
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 27, 2020
