Weather

All of the deaths that are blamed on the Category 4 storm were attributed to powerful winds, far from the shore.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday the impact of Hurricane Laura "could've been much worse," noting that storm surge was much less severe than projected.

Protesters had asked the parish to remove the prominent memorial this summer, only to be turned away two weeks ago. Then came the hurricane.

Heavy winds knocked down trees and some homes lost power. But many residents around Port Arthur are breathing a sigh of relief after the storm passed without causing major damage to the area.

Even as the storm's center nears Louisiana's border with Arkansas, a storm surge warning remains in effect for a large section of the coast.

As of 12 p.m. ET Thursday, 578,911 customers were without power in Louisiana, and in Texas, 139,307 people were in the dark, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

Hurricane Laura rapidly intensified before it made landfall. Abnormally hot water in the Gulf of Mexico helped it gain power.

When the storm's eyewall moved onshore around 1 a.m. ET, forecasters told people in its path, "TAKE COVER NOW!"

"Even if you're well inland, you could still see some of these impacts," National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham says.

The storm weakened slightly after it came ashore over southwestern Louisiana, near the Texas border. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Thurman Bartie, mayor of Port Arthur in Texas.

Hurricane Laura is pounding parts of Louisiana and Texas. It made landfall near Cameron, La., early Thursday morning. Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated the region before the storm hit.

Hurricane Laura has made landfall on the Gulf Coast. Protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake continued for a 4th night in Wisconsin. And, highlights of the third night of the GOP convention.