Laura grows into a Category 4 hurricane

Forecasters say Hurricane Laura has rapidly grown into a Category 4 hurricane that’s threatening to bring “unsurvivable” storm surge, as it churns toward Texas and Louisiana, gathering wind and water that now covers much of the Gulf of Mexico.

Satellite images show that Laura has become “a formidable hurricane” in recent hours, threatening to smash homes and sink entire communities. It has undergone a remarkable intensification, “and there are no signs it will stop soon, with shear remaining low-to-moderate over the deep warm waters of the central Gulf of Mexico,” the National Hurricane Center said in a briefing early Wednesday.

“We are expecting widespread power outages, trees down. Homes and businesses will be damaged,” said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is near the bullseye of Laura’s forecast track.

“I’m telling you, this is going to be a very serious situation,” Jones said.