Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Residents in Hurricane Laura's Path Prepare for Worst

Matt Haines

   NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - Under normal circumstances, Brandon Legnion is
   a physical therapy technician in Lake Charles, Louisiana. But as of
   Wednesday, he's one of nearly 11,500 Louisiana National Guardsmen
   preparing to respond to what many experts are predicting could be the
   catastrophic effects of a direct hit by Hurricane Laura.

   Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards activated the state's entire National
   Guard force ahead of Laura's landfall.

   "I'm fully expecting Lake Charles to be devastated by this," Legnion
   told VOA before comparing this storm to Hurricane Rita in 2005. "The
   damage was really bad back then, and that was just a Category 3 when it
   hit. But Laura's supposed to reach us as a Category 4. So, yeah, I'm
   really worried."

   The hurricane's winds have been reported near 235 kilometers per hour,
   and Laura was expected to hit the city between midnight and early
   Thursday.

   The National Hurricane Center warned of an "unsurvivable" storm surge
   with large and destructive waves that "will cause catastrophic damage."
   Meteorologist Benjamin Schott of the National Weather Service said at a
   Wednesday news conference that there could be a "wall of water over two
   stories high coming on shore."

   "Most everyone I know evacuated, so that's the good news," Legnion
   said. In fact, officials in Louisiana and Texas have ordered more than
   a half-million of the states' residents to evacuate in advance of the
   storm.

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