John Beard wasn’t taking any chances with Hurricane Laura. He and his wife live in Port Arthur, Texas, less than 50 miles away from where the Category 4 storm eventually made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana. Beard rode out the storm in Austin, where one of his children lives. Had Laura veered any further west, he planned to take a different route. “Next stop, Van Horn,” he says — referring to a pit stop some 700 miles away, out in the desert near El Paso.
Beard and many others Texans were fortunate this time. Damage reports are still coming in, but it’s already clear that Laura — one of the strongest storms to ever strike Louisiana — caused more than $15 billion in insured losses in the city of Lake Charles and surrounding areas. As of Aug. 31, the deaths of at least 14 people in Louisiana have been attributed to the storm, with four more in Texas. As the winds abate, residents who evacuated Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and other Texas cities are returning to their homes and hoping for the best.
