Laura leaves path of destruction

Hurricane Laura made landfall overnight as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane hitting the small town of Cameron, east of the Texas border with sustained winds of 240 km/h.

Videos on social media showed heavy winds and rain battering a tall building in Lake Charles, Louisiana, blowing out windows and littering glass and debris into the air and onto the ground as Laura moved along the Texas-Louisiana coastline.

But Laura has since been downgraded to a Category 3 storm and is expected to weaken as it moves further inland, becoming a tropical storm later today.