Category 4 Hurricane Laura makes landfall in US' Louisiana

Hurricane Laura, which has leaped to a major Category 4 storm, made landfall on Louisiana coast on Thursday, the United States' National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said, adding that life-threatening flooding was expected.

The Category 1 storm emerged on Tuesday and strengthened into "catastrophic" Category 4 on Wednesday night when it hit the Northwest Gulf Coast of the US.

"At 1 am CDT [06:00 GMT], Hurricane #Laura has made landfall in southwestern Louisiana near Cameron as a category 4 #hurricane. The maximum sustained winds were 150 mph, with a minimum central pressure of 938 mb. Potentially catastrophic impacts will continue," the NHC tweeted.

In the meantime, over 190,000 people were left without electricity in the states of Texas and Louisiana as a result of the storm, according to the Poweroutage.com portal.

Electricity was cut off in over 159,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana alone and almost 32,000 households in Texas.

The number of blackouts continues to rise.

Media have previously reported that 380,000 residents were required to evacuate from the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, which are located on the Gulf of Mexico and along the anticipated path of the storm.

Another 200,000 residents in southwestern Louisiana have also been forced to evacuate because of the incoming hurricane, according to reports. (/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )