Hurricane Laura

400,000 without power in Louisiana following Hurricane Laura

More than 400,000 were without power on Saturday morning and 200,000 without water, officials said.

Governor John Bel Edwards says the devastation and damage stretch all the way to northern parts of Louisiana.

At least 14 people were killed by the storm - 10 in Louisiana, four in Texas.

In Haiti, which was earlier badly hit by storms Marco and Laura, more than 31 people are now reported to have died.

President Donald Trump visited affected areas in Louisiana and Texas on Saturday.

'Catastrophic' Hurricane Laura lashes Louisiana

The hurricane's first reported US fatality was a 14-year-old girl in Leesville, Louisiana, who died when a tree fell on her house, a spokeswoman for Governor John Bel Edwards said.

"We do expect that there could be more fatalities," the spokeswoman, Christina Stephens, said on Twitter.

A chemical plant caught fire in Laura's wake yesterday in Westlake, Louisiana, 6.4km west of Lake Charles, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky over the wind-torn landscape near Interstate 10.

Hurricane Laura ‘will cause unsurvivable storm surge’

Laura was upgraded to a Category 4 storm as it approached the coasts of Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday.

The NHC warned local residents to "rush" to complete preparations.

Half a million have been told to leave. Laura and another storm, Marco, earlier hit the Caribbean, killing 24.

Marco has already struck Louisiana, bringing strong winds and heavy rain on Monday.

Initially it was feared that both storms would hit Louisiana as hurricanes within 48 hours of each other - an unprecedented event - but Marco was downgraded to a tropical storm.