Hurricane (Typhoon) — West Cameron, Louisiana

2020-08-26 to 2020-08-27 · West Cameron, Louisiana

Event narrative

There was a mandatory evacuation for the parish. Many trees and most power lines were blown down across the parish. All of the parish was without power and water immediately after the storm. Homes and businesses were damaged from trees falling on them or from the winds. A wind gust of 152 MPH was recorded at a PWS in Holly Beach, however wind gusts generally ranged from 90 to 150 mph across western Cameron Parish. Storm surge reached a height of 9.19 MHHW at Cameron, but was 3.97 MHHW at Texas Point near Sabine Pass. This caused damage to Holly Beach, however surge damage was minimal to the west and produced mostly beach erosion.

Wider weather episode

A tropical wave emerged off of Africa during August 16 and then developed into a depression by the 20th. The system gradually became better organized as it passed across the Greater Antilles. It entered the Gulf of Mexico and became a hurricane on the 25th. Outer bands spread inland during the afternoon of the 26th and it made landfall at Cameron at 1AM local time on the 27th as the first category 4 hurricane to landfall in Southwest Louisiana and the strongest Louisiana hurricane since 1856. The highest storm surge to ever be recorded also occurred from Laura which was approximately 21 feet at Rutherford Beach and Creole. Damages totaled roughly $10.7 Billion and 27 fatalities occurred.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 917509. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.