(BBC) – At least four people have been killed by falling trees as Hurricane Laura battered the state of Louisiana.
Winds of up to 150 mph (240 km/h) caused severe damage, with power cuts to more than half a million homes and a chemical fire from an industrial plant.
But the feared 20ft (6m) storm surge was avoided as the hurricane, the state’s biggest, tracked further east.
Laura has now been downgraded to tropical storm status as it heads to the Arkansas border.
President Donald Trump was briefed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) in Washington and said he would go to the area at the weekend.
He said he had been prepared to postpone his speech at the Republican National Convention later on Thursday to travel to the region but added: “We got a bit lucky. It was very big and very powerful but it passed quickly.”
