Collective memory recalls Hurricane Katrina, NO's burst dikes and you're doin a great job Brownie...but the far bigger dog followed shortly thereafter...Hurricane Rita.
Rita had the same path and intensity as Laura...So...I expect we will see wipeout devastation in the same areas. There are tons of low lying areas (expect 25 miles plus inland storm surge flooding)and to the north, the deep woods of East Texas/West Louisiana will be shutdown for weeks. There is a severe lack of infrastructure over there.
After Rita, a friend who part owns Brookshire Bros grocery chain, flew the company plane from store to store in these small towns just to pick up workers laundry. Lost Elec power, which runs all communications, and also shuts down all water plants leaves folks needing drinking water and being totally isolated. Recovery time after Rita portends the same area will be down for a month or two
Houston is vigilant, as we remember Katrina/Rita was followed by Hurricane Ike ...3 in same year. For sheer size Ike was the biggest ...covering most of the Gulf. Sustained winds, lots of rain....the eye took a full 50 minutes to pass over us...a Weird hour of respite. Size actually dissipated intensity and it was only cat 2 in my area of NW Houston burbs. Still a multi billion dollar loss
Unlike Houston area, Laura's path has little indigenous local and state structure so its path victims, somewhat like Katrina/NO, will be much more dependent on Federal assistance. It will be interesting to see if the feds are up this one. If they arent already traveling there now they have made mistake one.