Hurricane Laura: 81 Dead, $23 Billion in Damage

Hurricane Laura tore into Southwest Louisiana with winds matching the region's strongest hurricane on record, a storm so powerful that its name has since been permanently retired. Years later, communities like Lake Charles are still visibly shaped by what happened in the early morning hours of August 27, 2020.

A Storm That Broke Records From the Start

Laura's story began unusually early. It became a tropical storm on August 21, 2020, making it the earliest twelfth-named storm ever recorded in the North Atlantic, arriving eight days ahead of the previous record holder. That early, rapid pace turned out to be a preview of just how fast this storm would ultimately intensify.

After crossing the Lesser Antilles, brushing Puerto Rico, and moving across Hispaniola and Cuba, causing significant flooding and dozens of deaths along the way, Laura entered the Gulf of Mexico and began a period of rapid intensification on August 26. In a matter of hours, it strengthened from a Category 3 into a high-end Category 4 hurricane, reaching peak sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum pressure of 937 millibars.

The Strongest Landfall in Louisiana History