Radio Weathers Storm: Hurricane Laura made landfall early this morning (8/27) between Beaumont, TX and Lake Charles, LA as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Laura was also expected to cause what the NHC calls “catastrophic damage” and an “unsurvivable storm surge” penetrating up to 40 miles inland from the immediate coastline. For context, Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 when it made landfall in 2005. Many regional stations transitioned to wall-to-wall emergency coverage beginning yesterday, and those in the direct path still on-air are continuing emergency coverage today.

Cumulus/Beaumont, TX & Lake Charles, LA VP/MM Elizabeth Blackstock: “We got hit pretty hard in Lake Charles and are accessing damages with our corporate engineering team onsite as we speak. All six of our [Lake Charles] stations are off the air at this time. I stayed and just had the normal wind and debris at my home; we are currently without power.”

Cumulus KAYD/Beaumont, TX PD Don Brake: “KAYD and our Top 40 sister KQXY went off the air around 1:30am CT, and our Urban sister KTCX was off briefly last night, as well. As of 10am CT today, all of our stations are back on-air. I had planned to ride out the storm, but after getting my house secured late yesterday, we evacuated to Dallas. As far as we can tell, we did not sustain any major damage at our home. We are all operating remotely and doing our best to keep the community informed. Kudos to [morning host] Brandin Shaw and [afternoon personality] Rowdy Yates for their efforts on-air yesterday and today.”

Townsquare KMDL/Lafayette, LA Brand Mgr. Jude Walker: "We're doing pretty well here, all things considered. Hurricane force winds hit here, but mostly resulted in downed trees and power lines. The staff is all safe, but we went off-air this morning and are not yet back up, due only to power outages. We are still live and local and are on-air with our online stream. The stations should all be back up any minute now."

iHeartMedia WNOE/New Orleans PD Casey Carter: “The storm was about 175 miles west of us, so the western part of our listening area had some inclement weather last night, but the city of New Orleans is just now starting to see rain from the moisture behind the storm. We dodged one here!”

Entercom KILT/Houston PD Chris Huff: “We didn’t get a single drop of rain and barely a breeze. We were very lucky here. Aside from injecting information where necessary about the Galveston Island evacuation, we didn’t alter programming.”

Lake Charles resident Chrystal Anderson Johnson shared a video via Facebook that has now gone viral showing damage to the area, including the local Cumulus facility, while driving around tuning in local radio; watch here. American Red Cross is accepting donations here, or you can text Laura to 90999 to make a $10 donation instantly.