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Hurricane Laura plowed into the Gulf Coast early Thursday, making landfall in Cameron, Louisiana as a ferocious Category 4 storm packing 150 mph winds, heavy rainfall and a powerful storm surge. The storm -- one of the hardest to hit Louisiana on record -- caused widespread damage, including to this home in Lake Charles, about 50 miles north of Cameron, which had its roof shorn off.Getty Images
Police responded to a chlorine leak at BioLab's chemical plant in Lake Charles hours after Laura swept through the region. Residents in the area were told to close their doors and windows, turn off their air conditioning and stay indoors. The plant manufactures trichloroisocyanuric acid, chlorinating granules and other chemicals used in household cleaners like Comet and pool chlorine powder. AFP via Getty Images
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James Sonya surveys what's left of his uncle's barber shop in Lake Charles.Getty Images
The powerful wind gusts blew out the windows of this building in Lake Charles.Getty Images
Dustin Amos salvages a tattered American flag in Lake Charles.AP
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Businesses like this one in Lake Charles, one of the hardest hit areas in Laura's path, were left in ruins.AP
Chris Johnson's Lake Charles home was reduced to just a front porch. Johnson opted to stay put as the hurricane moved through, prompting the evacuation of more than 1.5 million.AP
Reginald Duhon was left to clean up the mess left behind at his Lake Charles home. AP
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Hurricane Laura brought massive storm surges, like this one in Galveston, Texas.AP
This man battened down the hatches with some choice messages.AFP via Getty Images
The hurricane also toppled an 18-wheeler tractor trailer along Interstate 10 in Vinton, Texas. Both the driver and a passenger suffered minor injuries.REUTERS
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Laura caused mass power outages in its wake, leaving behind downed power lines along Highway 90 in Iowa, Louisiana.REUTERS
Windows of another building in downtown Lake Charles had its windows blown out.Getty Images
The fierce wind gusts ripped off the facade of a building in Lake Charles.REUTERS
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New photos show the devastating, Gulf Coast destruction of Hurricane Laura, the most powerful storm to strike the US so far this year.

The roaring, 150 mph winds and 12-foot storm surge of the Category 4 monster on Thursday wreaked havoc in Louisiana and Texas, smashing windows, shearing off roofs and downing trees and power lines.

Four people in Louisiana lost their lives when trees crashed onto their homes, officials said — including a 14-year-old girl who was the hurricane’s first announced fatality.

Homes and businesses in the casino town of Lake Charles, La. — 50 miles north of where Laura came ashore — were reduced to soggy piles of kindling, the latest photos show.

Laura shattered swaths window glass on office buildings. The hurricane also partially flattened a barber shop was partially flattened, and smashed the roof and walls of one residence with wrecking ball force, the shots show.

Storm damage also caused a massive fire at a chlorine manufacturing plant in southwestern Louisiana, sending clouds of dark smoke billowing skyward and prompting officials to warn nearby residents to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.

Hardest-hit Louisiana looks like it’s been “bombed,” Sen.  John Kennedy said of his state, after the 500-mile-wide Category 4 system rode roughshod up the western boundary with Texas Thursday morning.

The storm made land fall at 1 a.m. in Cameron, Louisiana near the Texas-Louisiana border as a Category 4 — packing maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and drenching downpours.

Laura is the most powerful hurricane to strike the US so far this year — and one the strongest to strike Louisiana on record.

With Post wires

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