President Donald Trump and his advisors are reportedly considering adjusting Thursday’s closing night of the Republican National Convention due to the massive Hurricane Laura bearing down on the American Gulf coast.
Trump was set to deliver his acceptance speech on the convention’s final night, but the storm, according to ABC News, is causing a second look at the president’s plans.
As of 11 p.m. Wednesday night, the National Hurricane Center said Laura remains at Category 4 strength, with winds near 150 mph.
During his Wednesday night keynote address, Vice President Mike Pence opened his remarks with a word of warning to those in the path of Laura.
“This is a serious storm,” Pence said. “And we urge all those in the affected areas to heed state and local authorities. Stay safe, and know that we’ll be with you every step of the way to support, rescue, respond, and recover in the days and weeks ahead.”
Authorities continued imploring coastal residents of Texas and Louisiana to evacuate, but not everyone did before winds began buffeting trees back and forth in an area that was devastated by Rita in 2005.
The storm grew nearly 87 percent in power in just 24 hours to a size the National Hurricane Center called “extremely dangerous.” Drawing energy from the warm Gulf of Mexico, the system was on track to arrive early Thursday during high tide as the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. so far this year.
Hurricane-force winds extending 60 miles from the storm’s center neared the coast, forecasters said, and bands of heavy rain fell 30 miles from the beach in Lake Charles.
Late Wednesday, Laura was churning about 75 miles south of Lake Charles and moving north-northwest at 15 mph.
Maximum sustained winds increased to 150 mph before nightfall, and forecasters said up to 15 inches of rain could fall. Forecasters issued a string of tornado warnings as the storm pushed on to land, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards fretted that the dire predictions were not resonating despite authorities putting more than 500,000 coastal residents under mandatory evacuation orders.
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