The Latest: Laura's feared eye destroyed homes in Louisiana
The Latest on Hurricane Laura:
Reports are coming in from people who rode out Hurricane Laura in Louisiana.
Brett Geymann lives in Moss Bluff, just north of Lake Charles, and said the eye of the storm passed directly over them. He says his house survived but every other building, structure and tree on his property is gone.
Geymann says his family's OK but “there's destruction all around" them.
He says “It looks like 1,000 tornadoes" came through, with some houses “totally gone.”
Drone video in the Lake Charles area shows water surrounding homes with large parts of their roofs peeled off, hotels with rooms exposed and giant trees uprooted.
___
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Hurricane Laura is headed toward Arkansas, where an unusual tropical storm warning has been issued for much of the state.
The storm is hitting during the state's first week back at public school since March. Many schools in the southern half of Arkansas opted to cancel classes Thursday or dismiss early because of the storm.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared an emergency and set aside $250,000 for the state to prepare for the hurricane’s impact. Hutchinson said the state will have search and rescue teams on standby.
Laura is now a Category 1 hurricane but still blowing hard enough to be deadly. The first reported death, of a girl whose house was hit by a tree, was in Leesburg, more than 100 miles inland from the coast.
___
LAKE CHARLES, La. — Early reports emerging in the wake of Hurricane Laura show less damage than what was feared.
The eye passed directly over Lake Charles, where drone video shows roofs ripped off, exposing living rooms to the elements; trees downed and water overflowing the banks of coastal properties.
But FEMA...