Photos Show Louisiana in Ruins After Hurricane Laura

Hurricane Laura was already a big storm when it entered the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. By the time it made landfall Wednesday near Cameron, Louisiana, it had become a Category 4, with sustained winds of 150 miles an hour. It’s the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana in more than a century.

If you look at a map of the area, it’s a sparsely populated, mostly swampy area. Still, six people were killed, mostly from falling trees.

I made my first photos in the Vinton, LA area and then continued east to Sulphur, LA. Interstate 10 into Lake Charles was closed so I went South on Highway 27. There were downed trees and power lines across almost every road. I was able to slowly wind my way to the Intercoastal Waterway connecting the Sabine River, which separates the states of Texas and Louisiana, to Mud Lake. There, I was turned back by Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Deputies.

I slowly made my back, meandering on Highway 108 until I came across a stalled train blocking the road and had to turn around yet again. This was now becoming a theme. When I crossed Interstate 210 into Lake Charles, I was stopped by felled trees, downed power lines, toppled power towers, and flooded waterways. Laura has knocked out power to over 800,000 customers in Texas and Louisiana. Here’s what it looks like here, right now.

With a laundry basket floating in the front seat, a car lies semi-submerged just south of I-10 in Vinton, LA after Hurricane Laura passed through on Aug. 27, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Kramer)

Train cars overturned at the LyondellBasell plant along Highway 108 in Sulphur, LA after Hurricane Laura passed through on Aug. 27, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Kramer)

A mobile home in Calcasieu Parish with its roof torn off after Hurricane Laura passed through on Aug. 27, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Kramer)

A downed power tower blocks the road along Elliott Rd. in Calcasieu Parish. (Photo by Daniel Kramer)

A home lies semi-submerged along Highway 27 S. in Sulphur, LA after Hurricane Laura passed through on Aug. 27, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Kramer)

A crushed tank at the Citgo Refinery along Highway 108 in Sulphur, LA after Hurricane Laura passed through on Aug. 27, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Kramer)

Crew from the Canary Tree Service and Cranes company made short work of this tree blocking passage along W. Prien Lake Rd in Lake Charles, LA. (Photo by Daniel Kramer)

Cover: Daniel Kramer