Weakened but still dangerous, Laura to pose continued threat

Hurricane Laura, one of the strongest to ever strike the U.S., barreled across Louisiana on Thursday, shearing off roofs, killing at least six people and maintaining ferocious strength while carving a destructive path hundreds of miles inland.

Aerial photos have laid bare the extent of the destruction caused by the Category 4 storm, that left entire neighborhoods submerged in green-brown floodwater, high-rise buildings with missing windows, and an airport hangar shredded into ribbons of metal.

Most of the homes that remained intact still had missing shingles, shattered windows and yards strewn with debris.

A full assessment of the damage wrought by the hurricane is likely to take days, and the threat of additional damage loomed as new tornado warnings were issued after dark in Arkansas and Mississippi.

But despite a trail of demolished buildings, entire neighborhoods left in ruins and almost 900,000 homes and businesses without power, a sense of relief prevailed that Laura was not the annihilating menace forecasters had feared.

'It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute, catastrophic damage that we thought was likely,' Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said. 'But we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage.'