TEXAS, USA — Laura made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane around 1 a.m. Thursday morning. The hurricane has since been downgraded to a Category 2 storm as it continues to rip through East Texas and Louisiana.
Gov. Greg Abbott joined Good Morning America Thursday to talk about the hurricane's landfall and what's next for the State of Texas. The governor even shared some good news: no reports of any Texas deaths caused by Laura yet.
The governor told GMA that state leaders have been making assessments overnight. There may be as many as 100,000 people without power right now, he said. The governor added this hurricane is "unprecedented."
"Obviously, you could see the storm and it continues to sweep through Texas in an unprecedented fashion because it's not just where the surge came in, but is up, going up north and Jasper and Center, Texas, all the way up to Marshall, Texas," Gov. Abbott explained. "So in northeast Texas, a hurricane is going through. Therefore, as far as I know, the first time ever. So this truly is unprecedented."
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Gov. Abbott said he will be going to East Texas to take a look at the damages and help people "piece back their communities."
"We had I know, well over 5,000, maybe as many as 10,000 people who evacuated, and especially for those in the Port Arthur and Orange and Beaumont areas. It could have been a lifesaver," he said.
The governor added that may be one reason why there haven't been any reports of deaths in the state yet.
"We still don't know how many people may be injured," he said. "We will be learning that here shortly as the sun rises and we have search and rescue teams in place to make sure that everybody is gonna be safe, but is so important for people to remember that early evacuations for a Category 4 hurricane like this to whip through Texas as well as Louisiana. Those evacuations did save lives."
Rescuers are currently undertaking searches and will be making rescues for people who need it.
"Obviously, the biggest concern is the people who do need to be rescued," Gov. Abbott said. "And so we want to keenly focus on trying to assist those."
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