supposed to be more to the west, more towards the beaumont, port arthur area and not over the top of lake charles. they're not getting that southerly wind fetch that spreads the water up through the lake and river into lake charles. i have a really good feeling that they're not going to get the dire, horrific storm surge that was predicted because of that last-minute shift a little further to the east. if that happens, they still have to deal with the wind damage, but not dealing with a city flooded, that's a game changer. >> that's good news to hear. bill cairns, thank you. let's go to priscilla thompson live in shreveport, louisiana. you're in the outer bands of the storm, heading your way at the moment. so a little quieter for this hour at least. >> reporter: that's right, richard. we're getting some light rain here, but those impacts are going -- we'll see more of those impacts hooer in the next few hours. we're about 160 miles north of lake charles, so awaiting some of that. the biggest concerns here are going to be those high winds, reports up to 60-mile-per-hour winds. and also that heavy,

they're not done yet in lake charles.her two or three hours before you get out of the southern half of the storm. so here's a look at where the eye is. you can clearly see it there. they've been kind of on the edge of the eye. rain-free area for a while, and now they're about to get back into the heavier rain bands and on the southern side of the storm. ma maryville. you can see de-quincy, beaumont and port arthur, 50 to 60 miles an hour. there's a big difference. lake charles is going to have homes and businesses, roofs that were just obliterated. port arthur and beaumont, tree limbs and minor power outages. lake charles, it could be weeks in some areas. some neighborhoods before you get power back. so let's take you through the timing of this. 130. this is the end of category 4, you know. shortly here -- the next update will be a category 3, and we'll quickly go down to a tropical storm by the end of the day as you expect over land. by later on today, the storm is still pretty strong over shreveport. we could get gusts

turn the lights out from lake charles all the way up to probably into shreveport and lake charles could be significantly changed as a result of this storm from the wind damage projected to be up to 110 miles an hour as you go through lake charles. so we're looking at a big event that's going to put the lights out and that's -- we're still working on predicts. a few hours before we get the actual height of the tidal surge but the surge water that went through cameron from predicts much of cameron parish is now under water. >> hey, general, as you were so involved post-katrina and the infrastructure reinforcements that happened thereafter, what do you know about the area of cameron? we're looking at pictures earlier in our coverage there in the area of how homes are raised on stilts. that became very common, right, sir, after katrina as a lot of measures were put in place. what's the defensive infrastructure there? >> you have a new high water level in cameron. the homes were built with a couple foot of free board where rita came in and now we're expecting tidal surge up to 15 to 20 feet

because lake charles had a wind event. the winds in lake charles were over 120 miles per hour gusting for over one hour. that's an ef-2 tornado on the ground over your house for one solid hour. now, that doesn't make the damage that we saw in mexico beach. the damage we saw in mexico beach was the water damage. it was the storm surge. so cameron, holly beach, those are the areas that look like what we saw in matthew. what we're seeing here is the wind event as we push you in a little bit closer, and now it's getting very close to fort polka. a very populated area up there. a lot of buildings up there. and the wind is going to continue at about 100 miles per hour. we're down to a category 2 right now. but ft. polk right there, you're on the worst part of the eye wall. the winds are going to continue to increase for the next 20 minutes. and finally go away. 300,000 people already without power here. and the power lines are going to be down for a very long time. this is going to be a storm system that knocked down so many tre

power obviously is out here in lake charles. i heard we've got verification of 130-mile-per-hour wind gusts. i believe it. we've got debris and glass breaking outside and all sorts of stuff flying around way too close. the wind -- this door we can't get open. i'm putting all my weight into it and it's not budging. we can't even get outside right now. there's a fire alarm in our building. for the most part, it's coming unglued, at least outside. other than that, it's a fortress. this town is taking it right now. we're about to get inside the eye itself where these winds should go calm, at least for a few minutes. but this is the most fierce stuff we've seen so far. at one point when we were at higher floors, you could feel the hotel swaying. this being at night, you can't really see what's happening outside. we can't see the storm surge. we've got the river very close to us, or the lake, and that surge, what it's doing right now, i have no idea. no idea, because it's dark. and that may be the most frightening part of this situati

the lake charles area is taking the brunt of this.hifted a little more east for us which is a benefit, the storm surge they were predicting, we didn't get in any capacity like they were sitting beginning 120 mile an hour windss, receiving that right now. another 45 minutes or so with that. >> the mayor of dallas says he is not opening traditional shelters. people going to hotels instead because of covid-19 concerns which is a statewide issue for you? >> it is one of the things we have to look at when we started making our plans for an event like this, to have places we could bring our folks and have covid-19 restrictions and bus capacities, two thirds of what they should have been in down two thirds they should have been and the thing we had to plan for we did and we made arrangements for sheltering and the storm damage we are going to receive is a lot less than we were anticipating sharply we will not have the shelter needs we thought we would going in. >> it is a warning for future storms in more populated areas that if you can't pu

jeff flock live for us in lake charles. thank you for the lookaround, we appreciate it. >> sandra: let's bring in pete gainor, fema administrator. what can you tell us as the update and the federal response to the storm we've seen so far? >> the sun is just coming up in louisiana and texas and we will start doing damage assessments. we do this together with our local and state partners, locally executed, state managed and federally supported. we'll get out there this morning. take us a little bit to see the extent of the damage so we expect to see wind damage to structures and buildings. i think we are fortunate less surge than we thought, which is a good thing. we still have to get out and put our eyes on it to get a full assessment of what the damage looks like this morning. >> sandra: do you feel at this point that you have the resources you need to respond to the damage? >> we do. and we've been staged for many days now. so whether it's texas, louisiana, mississippi, arkansas, we have not only fema resources but our gre

that's a major flood for lake charles. and so although this is a smaller areas of inundation that was forecast, this is still happeni happening. people are asking me, does lake charles look like mexico beach? no, it does not. this was not a water event for lake charles, this was a event event. 120-mile-per-hour gusts or later for one solid hour. that's an ef-2 over your house that sits there for an hour. think about the damage that that would do to any house in america. something else we didn't quite get to yearly. i had a graphic up here and kit disappeared, there would also still be a potential for tornadoes today from baton rouge to new orleans as the storms roll onshore from the gulf of mexico, that's the potential any of those storms could rotate and put down some small ef-1, ef-2 tornadoes at any time. we'll keep watching that. >> we're still very concerned about the rainfall, we're very concerned about the winds and possible tornadoes, not to mention storm surge that could still develop, depending on how things play

the worst of it is in lake charles. in many cases first responders are now using new orleans as a staging area and the trick for them will be getting from here to the west to lake charles. the main highway there i-10 shut down. we're talking about 120 miles of that highway. a lot of low-lying areas along the way prone to flooding so won't be so easy to get there. won't know the scope until the morning but can tell you the entire national guard here in louisiana, it's been activated. that has not happened since hurricane isaac in 2012. other agencies ready to respond as well. kenneth and mona, we will wait to see how bad the damage is here statewide with sunrise and send it back to you. >> thank you. we appreciate it. >>> coming up we take you to kenosha, wisconsin. >> there's growing fallout after the police shooting of jacob blake including new details about the officer who shot blake and more sports teams boycotting in protest over the shooting. the new details next. >>> back now wit >>> back now in the scene in kenos

the eye of the storm system is sitting in lake charles right now t. we'll continue to watch the backside of this system make its way up into this area, but this is a destructive storm system this is the strongest storm on record to ever hit southwest louisiana. i do want to do some live tracking right now morgan city, there is that potential of tornados that are going to be sparking up throughout your afternoon. this is far from over. this storm system has still maintained its integrity from landfall what that means is it went in as a cat 4 and it is still a cat 4 hurricane. it will continue its way to the north and we're currently have 200,000 people without power so the winds are going to be an issue throughout the afternoon but i think the next big threat that we are seeing for louisiana to lake charles is the storm surge. this is the deadliest part and that right front quadrant went into this area river levels sparked up to 9 feet in some areas and the storm surge forecast is going to be up to 20 to 30 feet so even if you're on top of your first s

leland, you are just in lake charles, 132 miles an hour wind. when you were able to get out of the eye of the storm and assess the damage, what did you say? >> we saw a lot of the things the president has seen, the suffering there is very real there. the mayor went down the street, the street we were standing on but it also went down every other street in lake charles. the way it blew over trees and homes, that's how we had the number of utilities we did. it turning the electrical grid into meaningless wires on the ground. the issue that there's no drinking water and there is no running water for about 180,000 people. that makes life miserable in a way that can turn deadly very quickly in just a couple of hours. you can't see from these pictures inside the firehouse and with the president went on this to her but the heat index right now in lake charles are 103 degrees. people need water to survive that. a lot of water. you did see a staging of supplies before hurricane laura that really spoke to help bad everyone thought the storm would be. the

but that water is coming up in lake charles.ething else for lake charmle, gusting to 135 for over an hour. that is an ef-2 tornado over lake charles for an entire hour. and this is the destruction that we'll wake up to tomorrow because i've seen some pictures, the storm chasers are out there and buildings are destroyed. lake charles is a big disaster zone right now and there is another side of the eye to come. about 130 miles per hour still right now, it will move to the north, it will eventually get all the way up toward shreveport and little rock and la fayette, you will be in it probably 70 miles per hour now, but it is still going up. it is the surge we talked about, 15 to 20 feet. the eye came on shore near cameron, louisiana. so the surge for holly beach and cameron and points east, 20 feet. and those islands aren't even 20 feet high. so it would be unfathomable to think that that lot is left there. it will take some time, i know people are going we missed the surge. no, that water is still moving your direction. that wind

charles watson is reporting from lake charles, louisiana. charles. >> charles: hi, harris, the hurricane center storms storm surge could reach unsurvivable 20 feet in parts of texas and louisiana. in lake charles, businesses are closing up shop. take a loob at this store, you see the sand bags down on the ground. the gates are down and plastic is there doing everything to protect property and they are little optimistic, you see the sign in the door, they will be back open for normal hours on friday. this business next door may be more optimistic, they haven't done much to protect their business. there is an evacuation order in lake charles and parts of texas, many people in the path of the storm are taking it seriously, a lot of people say they are not leaving. >> i've been there for 50 years, don't make no sense to go nowhere else. got the family out, they're good. i'm going to stay here and just see what happens. >> everybody will not leave. some of us have to stay behind to watch the elders that can't go, facilities that can't move, that's

we're talking winds 120 to 150 miles per hour around the lake charles area. we're talking that wind threat to extend inland as well, but it's really toughest around the coastline. in terms of the flooding concern that even goes deeper inland. but we're talking a foot of rain in 12 hours' time. but the granddaddy of them all is going to be the storm surge-- this is forecast at 15- to 20- foot storm surge around lake charles. i saw a projection saying 15.5. the record is 13, and 13 put half the city under water. i think this could be worse, norah. >> o'donnell: the most frightening projection i have ever heard. lonnie quinn, thank you. another major story we're following, n.b.a. players are sitting out tonight's play-off games-- an extraordinary move, sitting out tonight's three play-off games in an extraordinary move to protest the police shooting of jacob blake in kenosha, wisconsin. three people were shot, two fatally, during overnight protests, and tonight a 17-year- old from out of town is being held on suspicion of first- degree intentional homicide. cbs'

we experienced winds in lake charles over 100 miles an hour. i would personally estimate we beat the ghost here, 140, 150 miles an hour. this entire city is severely damaged. all the skyscrapers in the city are almost completely without glass. there's a lot of metal. pieces of roofs down on the ground floor. i am currently just getting rocked by the other side. we went through the first i wall. now we are going through the second i wall. all the winds come from the opposite direction so it will continue to do more damage and a lot of wind damage to the high-rises in lake charles. >> we always make comparisons to previous storms. it is very early in laura but which storms does laura remind you of and why? >> i have to say laura reminds me a little bit of hurricane michael. hurricane michael wade landfall in the for the panhandle near panama city in 2018, not necessarily the exact strength of hurricane michael but the way hurricane laura ramped up beginning late last night all the way through yesterday into this morning all the way to landfall re

we're talking wind 120-150 miles per hour around the lake charles area. we're talking the wind threat to extend inland. in terms of the flooding concern that goes deeper inland. hours' time to sge.t of12 this is forecast at 15-20-foot storm surge around lake charles. i saw a protection saying 15 publicity 5. erd rois 13 and 13 put half the city under water and this could be worse. norah. >> o'donnell: the most frightening projection i have ever heard. another major story we're following, n.b.a. players are sitting out tonight's play-off games an extraordinary move to protest the police shooting of jacob blake in kenosha, wisconsin. three people were shot, two fatally, during overnight protests, and tonight a 17-year-old from out of town is being held on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. cbs' mola lenghi reports tonight from kenosha. >kenosha. >> reporter: the shootings erupted just before midnight. the shooter, alleged to be 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse. it allegedly began when he shot one person in the head at this boarded up business. then

air force one has just touched down in lake charles, another place the president's going to visit. phone towers that have gone down, we're not getting a great signal, charles, from either you sometimes or from the president's team. back to you both as news warrants. gillian? gillian: yep, and we will bring you the president as he disembarks air force one, hopefully we'll get that picture back up and running. in the meantime, texas democratic congressman, member of the house appropriations committee, henry cuillar, thanks so much for joining us today. tell us, first, we want do you about the campaign trail, but first let's talk about your con stretch wents in the great state of texas. tell us what you're hearing from the folks in the path of the storm about what they need most right now. >> you know, first of all, texans being texans, you've got people just helping out, food banks are helping. i mean, like any hurricane, you know, the first thing you need to do is provide the immediate supplies, the food, the assistance that they need, the water that they need, and there's going to

lake charles is in the eye. so they're getting a little bit of a break where the winds are calm there. if this would have shifted westward a bit, they would have been in that eye wall, which is about 15 miles wide. these are not thin eye walls. but still, that's not every community. when you look at this brighter color of pink, that's where all the water underneath has been building. it's like a vacuum, upwelling of water. and that wall is being slammed now into the coastline, changing the topography and being slid all the way inland for some 30 miles. some good news, some areas of the coastal areas in this region are sparsely populated. but, again, there are people that live here. there are over 600 oil and gas platforms. this is the heart of that industry. most have been evacuated. over 80%. but the inundation alone, that's the killer. the problem is how frightening it has to be right now without power in the darkness of night. you're hearing nothing but sirens from possibly tornado warnings. you're hearing th

this happened in lake charles. national weather service is calling this a catastrophic storm surge. want to take a live look, in fact, at lake charles right now which has been the victim of all this heavy rain, wind and a lot of flooding overnight. you see the winds continuing and the palm trees just blowing there. "today in the bay" jay gray is on the ground there. he'll join us with the latest coming up. >> just seeing all that. that is -- >> it is hard. i mean, just such a huge storm and i know, kari, you covered hurricanes in the past and you know this area well. >> oh, absolutely. i was there for hurricane rita that took this exact same path and was slightly weaker and that was pretty devastating in that area and seeing even stronger hurricane really makes you just really feel bad for the people there. and this is also still spawning tornadoes, as well as that heavy rainfall. and to see it that far inland and it's still a category 1 hurricane is pretty remarkable. this will be in arkansas as a tropical storm l

en lake charles, luisiana, telemundo >>> laura se sigue debilitando mientras avanza sobre nebraska y destrucción en la costa de texas, ana paula se encuentra en orange, una de las zonas más golpeadas, cuéntanos del impacto allí >>> josé, el impacto fue básicamente reducido a pérdidas materiales en esta zona del país. como ves a la familia ramírez la copa del árbol se le cayó y desplomó el techo destruyendo la mitad de su residencia, es la segunda vez que este hogar pasa por una situación semejante ante un huracán y ahora no pueden creer que tengan que lidiar con este problema de nuevo y así como ellos se suman a otros que también han sufrido pérdidas materiales serias después del paso del huracán laura. >>> techos desplomado. vehículos pesados totalmente volcados. estructuras hechas pedazos y hasta algunas casas en ceniza es el saldo que dejó laura al tocar tierra en estados unidos. confiado armando se quedó en su casa. >>> en un momento me arrepentí de haberme quedado y se sentía fuerte >>> alfonso no puede creer que por segunda vez perdió su hogar ante la inclemencia de un huracán

some in shelters in lake charles, louisiana, there. military aircraft being flown to safer ground out of barksdale air force base. the outer bands of the storm making their mark already. this is from lake charles tonight. and all of this hidden in the middle of a pandemic, as well. thousands of coronavirus cases just in the region expected to get slammed by this storm. so, we'll guide you through it all tonight. ginger zee is live in port arthur, texas, tonight, with the latest track and guidance for us. what do you expect? >> reporter: david, the words unsurvivable storm surge were used by the national hurricane center from my point here in port arthur, east through southwestern louisiana. this all comes just a couple of days before the 15th anniversary of hurricane katrina, which obviously hit a c nl southwestern louisiana. now, i want to take you into what we are looking at, right? so, this is the lake behind me. the hurricane is about 120 miles to the southeast. this is a very shallow deck that leads up to all of these homes right

rob joins us live from lake charles, louisiana, tonight. and rob, i know the mayor said it was like a bomb went off there and we can see just the incredible damage all around you. >> reporter: yeah, it's everywhere, david. and that's an accurate description, it looks like a bomb went off. and i can tell you this, in all my years, i've never seen hurricane damage like this, cut through a city. it is like a tornado cut through here. this behind me, this is one of the many cell towers that came crashing down during the storm, across this office building, across this restaurant. there are hundreds of utility poles and power lines that are cut across the city. they'll be out of power for weeks. no doubt about that. and this scene is repeated block after block, neighborhood after neighborhood, across the city of lake charles. my goodness, it's going to be something to recover from. it will take years. all right, the low of laura now over little rock. so, we are not done with this storm yet. it is weakening, but it is bringing with it a lot of pun

you can see with the national guard in lake charles, what they're doing. just saw that damage. they're getting the power saws out, and it's unimaginable, congressman, with so many people still without electricity, many without water. and they say that could go on for weeks and in some cases even months. and you're no stranger to hurricanes in your district. >> yeah. we just got hit by a tropical storm just a few weeks ago. right now it's really important for there to be good communication. individuals who have had their lives impacted, they want to know that they're just not out there by themselves, that government doesn't know what they're experiencing, that government's not out there to help. what more can possibly happen to communicate with those people who are suffering than to see the president come in. now, as you're showing those images of -- whether it's fema or it's those troops with the national guard, you can't possibly say thank you enough to those men and women who are out there. they are ready at the moment you can start any type of a rescue

we've been following all day long, you know, the lake goes into the river which heads in through lake charles. if they don't get that southerly wind flowing up from the gulf through the lake into the river, they're not going to get that 15-foot predicted surge. a slight track to the east, i'm not saying it's not going to happen yet because it's too early, i'm starting to feel a little bit better that the dire predictions for lake charles may not happen on the river. we'll see. we still have a long night to go. it looks like from this map, the worst storm surge would be from jennings southwards and a very remote and rural section here of south-central louisiana. that's one of the stories that's developing. also, you know, even if lake charles doesn't get that horrifically dire storm surge, look at these wind gusts that are expected in these cities, brian. you can imagine with the damage of 130-mile-per-hour winds will do. even if they don't get that storm surge, trees, homes, roofs all through that region just torn apart. >> yeah, people should remember as we look at a number like 127, over 60

especially in and around lake charles, louisiana.nts coming home must understand the reality there and the governor said look and leave is truly the best option. >> it wasn't howling, but more a screaming. you could hear the shingles being ripped off the house. so yeah, it was very crazy. >> lake charles dealing with a chemical fire at a plant in the area. the cdc now warning about carbon monoxide poisoning, and they could turn to gas generators for cooking and those are very dangerous in confined spaces. martin savage is on the ground for us in lake charles. >> good morning, christine and laura. the damage to lake charles is extensive and severe. like they had a tornado only on a much more massive kind of scale. whether it's a commercial district or a resident area, it's pretty much all the same. this apartment complex got nailed. the roof has been ripped off and it's unlivable for the time being. then you take a look another the street we're on. the side streets are choked with debris, downed power lines and trees that have come cr

this isn't just a problem for the lake charles area. i mean, far inland even up toward shreveport tomorrow evening we could have significant power outages from this storm. and then the hurricane center does finally weaken it to about 60 miles per hour over little rock and then the wind damage portion will be done and we'll have to deal with some flooding as far as rainfall. the biggest thing and the life threatening portion of the storm is beginning and that is with the storm surge. you notice anywhere to the right of the landfall so we're talking that pink section in there where it is extreme. it's very rare to get a 20-foot potential storm surge. the worst on record was katrina with 28-foot storm surge. camille was in the 20s. ike was in the 20s. rita was around 15 to 18. this storm has the potential to be up there on the list of those historic, all time storms. when this is all finished and said and done, you know, this could easily be a multi billion dollar weather disaster from louisiana north wards and potentially to some sections

but lake charles is getting hammered. they will see hurricane force winds as well. again, the story with the storm is going to be the heavy storm surge. once it leaves the ghost it will move in this path towards the northeast, but it will drop significant rain, tornadoes. the story doesn't end until somewhere around sunday for the new york area. when we come back we'll take another look at it and look at your weather, which includes the air quality that is less than great. >>> now we want to go to wisconsin and the rising tensions over police shooting of jacob blake and the three nights of writing that have followed. [ sounds of gunfire ] >> authorities arrested a 17- year-old boy for the shooting death of two people during last night's protest. the way teacher was among a number of armed men seen patrolling the streets of kenosha. >> what i can't tell you is what led to the disturbance, what led to the use of deadly force by this person and if both deaths are related to the same person. i don't know that at this point. >> authorities released more details today on

heat advisories up for lake charles. it's miserable conditions. severe weather across the northeast. couple tornados. tornado warnings around albany and north of albany. two reported. damage with those as well. intense storms there. that's going to clear out today. should be a decent day across the northeast. we're watching development of tropical storms. this has a 50/50 shot at becoming a cycl >>> good sunday morning. i'm lisa argen. the view from our sutro tower camera shows the low cloud deck is robust and also the sunshine above it all. we have the inversion, so the smoke and haze being trapped underneath, another spare the air alert, and mist and drizzle at the shoreline this morning. we're getting into a summer pattern, where that heat is going to build, and our inland valleys for the week ahead. today just a little bit of modest warming near 90 inland. 65 in the city with the spare the air alert today. >> reporter: i got a lot of friends in southwest louisiana. lake charles a very special place for me. i leave this state with a heavy heart

paul herd lives in lake charles.derstand he had to evacuate his house as the storm started to pull the roof off. paul joins us now. are you safe? are you safe, paul? tell us what happened. >> i am safe. it's about an hour and a half, it just started taking the house apart. the house it's still dark, a lot of the shingles are missing, and my roof is clearly leaking. abandoned it about an hour ago and got into the car -- excuse me, about two hours ago, and i'm in my car hunkered down because i'm fearing that my house is going to collapse on me. the surprising thing is i see no storm surge. i'm southeast in the very, very corner just five miles north of grand lake, and so the damage that i have has been exclusively by -- i'm sitting in my car right now, and we're about three feet below my level. i have not seen a storm surge whatsoever. everything's exclusively wind damage. >> so this is that excessive wind that the national hurricane center was warning us about, these -- these are really strong winds. do you feel safe

rob joins us live from lake charles, louisiana, tonight. and rob, i know the mayor said it was like a bomb went off there and we can see just the incredible damage all around you. >> reporter: yeah, it's everywhere, david. and that's an accurate description. i can tell you this, in all my years i have never seen hurricane damage like this, cut through a city. it is like a tornado cut through here. this behind me, this is one of the many cell towers that came crashing down during the storm, across this office building, across this restaurant. there are hundreds of utility poles and power lines that are cut across the city. anth s i nboood neod the chle. 's to something to recover from. it will take years. the low of laura over little rock. we're not done with the storm yet. it is weakening but bringing with it a lot of punch and a lot of rain. so, this continues to spin out tonight. gets over memphis. it will get picked up into the jet scream. we'll see heavy rains in this area. maybe more moisture coming out of the gulf of mexico and that m

lake charles was one of them. there are reports right now there were 150 people who did not heed the warnings and stayed. we followed up and asked the louisiana emergency preparedness agency about this. they said there's not 150 people unaccounted for, but there could be that many people who did not leave when they were told to leave. that is concerning. there are search and rescue teams coming from outside state as well, at least florida and other states, to try and find people that might have been impacted by this storm that weren't listening to directions. that would break your heart if there was a tragic outcome to that. officials were so adamant for so long to leave and not take chances. >> that's exactly right. in the final hours before the storm hit, people may have left. one of the things i heard one of the mayors staying, make sure your family knows you're staying. if you're leaving, make sure your family knows you're leaving. when they have to account for everybody and someone is not in their house, are

lake charles, louisiana, was in the path of the eye of the storm as it made landfall.ly has a long road to recovery ahead of it. nbc's jay gray is on the ground there. jay, tell us more about the aftermath that you see there >> well, you know, frances, it's overwhelming it seems everywhere you turn, there's devastation and debris this twisted, sheared metal part of what used to be a gas station here you can see the pumps still there, but this one is gone. ripped away and tossed away by the storm. evidence of the sheer power of laura. at first glance, it has the appearance of a child's messy playroom cars and trucks scattered on their sides. but a closer look and it's clear, this mess is no game. >> there's so much damage here you're going, this is a disaster area you know, it's a literal disaster >> reporter: from cameron, where the massive storm came ashore through lake charles, the devastation from laura stretches for miles. >> this was the most powerful storm to ever make landfall in louisiana. >> reporter: a category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 miles an

shreveport about three hours north of lake charles.ndering if you and your town had a lot of evacuees from southern part of the state. >> we had some evacuees. i don't know the exact numbers, they are placed and available hotel rooms. jillian: i am wondering because of everything going on with coronavirus has that made the situation different, people being put into hotel rooms, is that right? >> because of coronavirus, we have large congregations of people which is our response to expect evacuees. those staying in hotels, we don't have exact numbers. jillian: it made landfall as a category 4, very strong storm. you are a few hours from the central location of it. what are you prepared for? what will you be dealing with in a couple hours? >> wind and rain and flash flooding, they go underwater very quickly with 4 to 6 inches. we have additional staffing. most of our officers coming to work early, emergency meeting. jillian: power outages a big thing in the hours and days and even weeks depending on the situation after a storm. how prepa

that's the governing body for lake charles and the surrounding area. thank you so very much for being with me right now. i just kind of want to get the lay of the land from you about how you support people at this point, and with the biggest challenges right now. >> the biggest challenges we just have so much damage, structural damage to homes, businesses, the utility infrastructure is a nightmare. so many power lines are down, it's going to be a real challenge for the utility companies to get that back into working order so we can recover. it's a mess. >> harris: we are showing our audience right now the first aerial footage from port arthur, texas. what you are describing in your area of louisiana, tom, we are now seeing for the first time what has happened in port arthur. can you tell me how far away, if you know, this is from you? because it's pretty bad, and that would really tell us what you're dealing with, because pretty much louisiana took this dead on. >> i'm in lake charles. port arthur would be about 50 miles to the southwest. >> harris: wo

cnn's gary tuchman is in lake charles. what are things like on the ground and what are some of the things the president -- we're looking at a live image of him surveying downed trees. what else is he expected to see there? >> reporter: after a festive week with the republican national convention and a rally in new hampshire, president trump has come to a solemn place, lake charles, population 80,000. this is live. the president is touring the neighborhood with immense destruction. this is just one neighborhood. he could have been at 100, 200, 300, 400 neighborhoods. we have toured the city over the last two days. there are very few blocks where you don't see some damage and many blocks where you see immense damage. that's what the president is looking at right now and talking to residents here. why is it so particularly solemn? we have the death toll of 15, but you also have no power, as you said, half a million customers at least, and this is unusual because we cover a lot of hurricanes, but there is no water in the city.

when you go in the city of lake charles and drive around, population 78,000. you see very few streets that are unscathed. and even now, as we speak, people are calling police, frantsic because they still can't contact their loved ones. we spent part of the afternoon and evening with sheriff's deputies looking for those people. calls keep coming in to the sheriff's office from people in the lake charles area who can't get in touch with their family members or friends. so deputies ryan tarver and cameron hicks are responding to as many calls as they can. we go to this hour, heavily damaged from the hurricane. >> how are you doing? >> they are looking for a 72-year-old man who did not evacuate. there is great concern the man could be found dead or seriously hurt. paramedics and a worried neighbor there were when the sheriff's deputies arrived. they found the manager ald, a vietnam veteran, who had indeed been hurt. >> i slipped and fell in the hallway. >> are you feeling okay now? >> yeah. >> i feel good. >> we're worried about you. and the sheriff's deputies are

so high toppled this truck in lake charles. the national weather service is calling catastrophic storm surge. want to take a live look at lake charles right now which has seen heavy rain, wind, flooding overnight. "today in the bay" jay gray is on the ground there and join us with the latest coming up. >>> 4:41. president trump set to defend his record and present his argument for another four years. next on "today in the bay" who else takes center stage tonight on the last day of the republican national convention. >>> plus, a late-night announcement from tiktok what i >>> good morning, i'm frank holland at cnbc headquarters. here are today's top business headlines. watt street set to open up in the red after stocks rose yesterday. the s&p 500 and nasdaq closing at record highs while the dow is less than 1% away from break even on the year. tech and economy stocks powering all the gains and investigators reacting to potential covid-19 vaccines and expectations the fed will continue to keep interest rates at historically low le

martin, it says you're in lake charles, louisiana. am i correct? are you in lake charles right now? what's going on? >> i am, don. good to see you, chris. right now, we are starting to feel the real voracity of the storm. it's still about an hour and a half away maybe from the worst of it. and we're actually sheltered because we have a very large building all around us. i'm in what we say is the lead of the wind. the sustained winds of this storm right now are listed at 150 miles an hour. now, if laura comes ashore with those wind speeds, that will be one of the most intense hurricanes, ever, to hit louisiana. that was greater than hurricane katrina. and it could be even greater than hurricane rita, which was just three week -- or three years ago. and of course, we know that katrina was -- i'm sorry,rita was 15 years ago and so was katrina. so both of those are really bad. the system here is the storm surge. we are 30 miles away from the coast. and yet, the storm surge is projected to go 40 miles inland. so, yeah, the water's going to get here. in fact, it would probably get up to t

we're about four hours north of lake charles. for as far as evacuations go, we have low lying areas in our city. as we get wind gusts and a lot of rain, those low lying areas have the potential of flooding. our swift water rescues team is strategically placed so they can respond in case we need to use them. >> how has the coronavirus pandemic impacted how you're handling it, how you're preparing for the storm? >> that's a great question. it's added some complexity to us. usually we put a lot of people in shelters and congregate them close together so we can maximize the amount of people that can seek safety. this year we're working with fema. they're giving us vouchers to put people in hotel rooms so we can separate people, keep them safe while we were dealing with the covid-19 outbreak in the midst of hurricane laura. >> mayor, we are sending you our thoughts, our prayers, it's going to be a tough day ahead. good luck to you and your city. >> thank so much. >>> i want to give you a historical perspective, and bring in lt. genera

they're all moving into the lake charles area now.o do some of this work, search and rescue, all the way up the west side of the state as the storm moves north and clearly the power outages are going to become more extensive. and we have more restoration crews prepositioned in louisiana than ever before, but nobody should think this is going to be a quick process getting the electricity back on because the damage from the storm is extensive. it will take a while for that to happen and then i want to remind everyone that this is all happening in a covid-19 environment where we have the public health emergency as well. and so as we move people, as we shelter people, as we rescue people, we have to be very, very mindful of this. otherwise, in a couple of weeks we're going to really pay the price here with more cases and hospitalizations and unfortunately more deaths than we would otherwise experience. >> you said there are many people moving in for the possible search and rescue. what do you know now in terms of need? what kind of calls

we are across i 10 in lake charles., this is still a tremendous rain event and, of course, this wind that you are seeing right now and it's actually just died down a little. we were in the eye of the storm earlier this morning but i will tell you i have been in the eyes of storms before. this one didn't give us a lot. times you can see the stars. we weren't seeing any stars. it was kind of a ragged eye but still one that has been holding together. and as you reported came ashore as cat 4. still cat 3. and so you can see the kind of conditions we are getting on what is the weak side of the storm. just because they call it the weak side of the storm doesn't mean it's weak and still damage is being done here. i suspect when we get out and, of course, it's early and we can't see tremendously well. we don't want to get too far from our hunker down position here. i expect when we get out just at the hotel where we have been staying we have been seeing fairly significant damage. the roof is still on and all of that but the kin

now lake charles is going through the backside. there was a lot of damage from lake charles from the backside. now the front side is kicking through. the winds won't be as severe. in beaumont, gusts at 60 to 80 miles an hour max. those winds will start to weaken and the rain will be ending shortly in those areas as the storm pulls away. the wind gauge stopped working at lake charles. notice the winds are starting to come down. beaumont and port arthur, but the highest gusts are heading up and eventually alexandria and shreveport later on today. we have flash flood warnings from alexandria southward all the way down to the coast. we have 9 million people in flash flood watches for today. of course, you know, even as it's slowly going down to a category 2 and 1 and eventually tropical storm, we still have that swath of winds that will be causing power outages in into southern arkansas later on today. here's the predicted winds. we can see gusts up to 50 many little rock and, yasmin, my general rule of thumb is if you get wind gusts o

cnn's martin savidge has more from lake charles. >> look, the roof. roof there, that's a foam roof coming down. you can see it some of the ground there, just raining down here in lake charles. >> roaring ashore a category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 miles an hour, hurricane laura was the strongest storm to hit this portion of louisiana and far eastern texas in over a century. laura's powerful winds tearing across lake charles, louisiana, causing widespread destruction, homes an buildings torn apart, roofs completely sheared off. huge trees snapped in half. lampposts and street signs bent in half or completely torn from the ground. this video captured by one man who spoke to cnn after riding out laura in his condo in lake charles. >> i heard a big bang and that woke me up. i decided to go out and see what it was. this was a lot worst than rita. >> john bel edwards saying at least four deaths have been reported, including a 14-year-old girl. >> all were related to trees falling on residences, which is in line with this being a major wind event.

omar villafranca is in storm ravaged lake charles. >> reporter: in lake charles, crews are still cleaning up mountains of debris four days after hurricane laura crashed into the louisiana coast. 150-mile-per-hour winds splintered trees and shattered power polls leaving homes damaged and thousands without power or running water. >> they need places to stay. preferably right now those plays need outside of lake charles. >> what you're seaing today is we've got about 16,000 folks in noncon gra gat shelters, nonhotels, less than a thousand in the big con gra gat shelters, the gymnasiums, those that we have to put into the gymnasiums, we're making sure they're social distancing. >> reporter: some people are struggling for the basics. cbs news cameras were there on saturday when residents of the golden arms assisted living center finally got help. they had been without power or water for three days. volunteers from houston-based crowd sorceress cue helped relocate 19 stranded residents. the storm damaged just about every mahinmi and business in its path. the city of all of calcasieu parish are

i want to go to the mayor of lake charles, louisiana. jennifer gray going through the catastrophic situation. unsurvivable is a word they don't use. they use life threatening. they don't use the word unsurvivable. worst hurricane to strike the coast of louisiana right where you are. how concerned are you for your city? >> we're very concerned. we're very concerned about our city. we're concerned about our citizens. obviously, we've issued a mandatory evacuation and done everything humanly possible to get people out of lake charles, out of southwest louisiana for those who didn't have the financial means to do it we've provided transportation options but we are very concerned about our city. >> so where are you riding this out, mayor? >> i am hunkered down very safely at a location in downtown lake charles. >> all right. so what do you say to anyone that's left in lake charles as they say unsurvivable. obviously, you won't be able to have first responders go anywhere to help anyone for quite sometime, right? >> absolutely. and that's the

another reporter had to face challenges well covering the hurricane from lake charles, louisiana. >>when i stepped out in this direction, out of the cover of that wall, it is windy and wet and things are blowing fast. this is hurricane laura. an iconic view of what hurricane laura is doing to the lake charles area right now. >> so powerful and most of us just hoping for some better air quality around here and our neighborhood in the north bay is like the smoke was trapped in there the last few nights like a lid was on there. >>> that is like an inversion around the bay area and that means the temperature goes up as you go higher in the atmosphere and keeps the lower level stable and that is what traps the fog but whatever else is the seer like smoke or any kind of pollution also gets trapped and you are downwind in the north bay of some of those fires that are still smoldering but there are green dots on the map indicating improving air quality further parts of the bay area especially the tri- valley and much of the east bay and south bay in parts of santa clara valley and it will co

jeff flock is in charles louisiana. >> what you are looking at is everywhere in lake charles louisianar these homes, we got a picture of the house down the block where the house had a tree right through the whole, a huge tree it had been sodded off, it's been happening all over town and i want to catch up with carl if i can who has lived here a good long while, you can imagine he is probably from louisiana for good old time, your house, fortunately you are not here. >> how better thing. >> pretty total, we will probably have to tear down and start all over. >> in terms of power you said you thought it would be a month before you get power. >> and think at least a month, it will be pretty bad. >> you guys are tough, i know, but i'm sweating standing here it's going to be tough power for a month. i won't be here, will be back and forth and staying at a neighbors house where they have power. >> this is everywhere as i said, burgess flipped over top. >> yes or, when the storm came above and came in at the east wind and took it off. >> before we get away, your neighbor had to cut his wife o

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