93-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast.

And now Preston and Steve's news updates with Kathy Romano.

And today's Thursday, August 27th.

Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning in the news this morning.

Hurricane Lara pounded the Gulf Coast for hours with ferocious

winds, torrential rains and rising seawater as it roared ashore over southwestern Louisiana near the

Texas border early Thursday with a life-threatening category for storm. Authorities ordered coastal residents

to evacuate, but not everyone did in an area that was devastated by Rita in 2005. Videos on social media showed Laura's winds battering a skyscraper in Lake Charles, blowing

out windows as glass and debris flew to the ground.

The category four hurricane can cause damage so catastrophic that power outages may last

for months in places and wide areas could be uninhibitable for weeks or months.

The threat of such devastation poses a new disaster relief challenge for a government already

straining to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. With more than 290,000 homes and businesses

without power in the two states, near constant lightning provided the only light for some people.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm,

which intensified rapidly Wednesday before plowing into land with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour,

came ashore at 1 a.m. near Cameron, a 400-person community about 30 miles east of the Texas border.

Early Thursday, Laura was centered about 15 miles west, northwest of Lake Charles and moving north at 15 miles per hour.

Winds had weakened slightly to 130 miles per hour since making landfall.

More than 580,000 coastal residents were under orders to flee in the largest evacuation since the coronavirus pandemic began,

and many did filling hotels and sleeping in cars since officials didn't want to open mass

...