Hurricane Laura: Weather Channel issues stark depiction of what 'unsurvivable' storm might look like

Flood water gradually reaches way above the height of the weather presenter on an animated map

Claire Lomas
Thursday 27 August 2020 15:01 BST
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Storm Laura: Weather Channel issues stark visual depiction of what 'unsurvivable' hurricane might look like

The Weather channel has shared a video depiction of what they say an ‘unsurvivable’ hurricane could look like.

As Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Louisiana and Texas, the National Hurricane Center has forecasted an “unsurvivable storm surge”.

In the video, the US presenter warns people to not underestimate the storm, explaining what the kind of water height looks like. Some places in south western Louisiana could see up to 20 feet of flooding above normally dry ground.

“The water is not just around the buildings, but it’s inside as well”, says the presenter as an animated map surrounds him with ‘flooding’. Terrifyingly, the screen then shows the flood water rising gradually, eventually reaching way above the height of the presenter.

Forecasters have described Hurricane Laura as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane.

The National Hurricane Center reports the storm made landfall at 1am CDT on Thursday near Cameron, a 400-person community about 30 miles east of the Texas border.

It had maximum sustained winds of 150mph, making it the most powerful hurricane to strike the US so far this year.

Forecasters warned the strong winds could rip apart buildings, level trees and toss vehicles like toys.

With additional reporting from Associated Press.

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