Hurricane (Typhoon) — Calcasieu, Louisiana

2020-08-26 to 2020-08-27 · Calcasieu, Louisiana

Event narrative

There was a mandatory evacuation for the parish. Numerous trees, power lines, transmission lines, and poles were blown down across the parish. All of the parish was without power immediately after the storm. Homes and businesses were damage from trees falling on them, or from the winds. Low-lying areas near downtown Lake Charles flooded from high water due to rainfall. A male of unknown age drowned in a sinking shrimp boat. Twelve persons died in recovery (indirect deaths) from carbon monoxide poisoning, including five in one family in the city of Lake Charles. Other indirect deaths occurred from smoke inhalation, from a head injury after falling off a roof, falling off scaffolding in a refinery, and accident of a tree service vehicle. Wind gusts ranged from 110 to 145 mph across the parish. Storm surge reached 4.65 MHHW at Lake Charles.

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 917518. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.