A 14-year-old girl is the first known fatality from Hurricane Laura, which made landfall over Louisiana early Thursday morning.
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the grim news on MSNBC.
“Just before I came on with you, I got a report of our first fatality. A young 14-year-old girl in the Leesville area, a tree fell onto her home,” he said.
The governor did not identify the young girl who died. He also said he expects there will be other fatalities.
“I suspect that won’t be the last, although I pray we don’t have any more, but we know we have at least one fatality now in Louisiana,” the governor added.
Leesville is a town roughly 115 miles north of Cameron, near where Laura made landfall as a “major” Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph sustained winds. It brought with it storm surge and heavy rains. More than 1.5 million people were under evacuation orders in Louisiana and Texas.
When Laura was a tropical storm making its way through the Caribbean, it killed at least 23 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
As of Thursday mid-morning, Laura has weakened but remains a hurricane as it is making its way further inland.
