Photos show the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm and pummeled Louisiana and Texas

• Hurricane Laura touched down as a Category 4 storm and lashed Louisiana and Texas early Thursday.
• In the lead-up to Laura's arrival on the US Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center forecast "unsurvivable storm surge," "destructive waves," and "catastrophic damage."
• Photos and videos that emerged on Thursday showed widespread destruction.
• Laura uprooted power lines and trees, blew roofs and windows off hotels and buildings, destroyed homes, and left cars bobbing in water-logged streets.
• Follow our latest updates on the storm here.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hurricane Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, as a Category 4 storm early Thursday.

It battered the coasts of Louisiana and Texas with 150 mph winds and massive storm surges, with the National Hurricane Center tweeting just after 1 a.m. CT that "potentially catastrophic impacts will continue."

Laura weakened while moving inland, but the weather service continued issuing warnings about heavy rain, flooding, tornadoes, "damaging winds," and "life-threatening storm surges."

People braved the storm to take photographs of the damage Laura was causing: mangled telecommunications towers, an RV being buffeted by strong winds, and windows of a hotel giving way.

As the sun rose, people emerged from their houses to take stock of the wreckage Laura had left in its wake.

Footage on social media showed houses and cars submerged underwater; hotels and other buildings — including the Capital One Tower in Lake Charles, Louisiana — were missing roofs and windows; and signs had toppled over at debris-ridden gas stations.

Elsewhere, homes had been gutted, their insides strewn all over sidewalks after the heavy winds and flooding.

The monster storm flattened structures, leaving them unrecognizable.

Trees were uprooted and billboards were shredded.

Downed powerlines created a safety hazard while hundreds of thousands were left in the dark.

The rain and storm surge left streets water-logged.

The force of the storm also upended boats and sparked a chemical plant fire.

More than half a million people were evacuated as officials in Texas and Louisiana raced to prepare for Laura. Some chose to defy the orders and stay in their homes.

"Know that it's just you and God," Mayor Thurman Bartie of Port Arthur, Texas, told citizens, The New York Times reported.

A sheriff's office in Vermilion Parish, in Lousiana, had a similarly macabre message for people who didn't leave the area. "If you choose to stay and we can't get to you, write your name, address, social security number and next of kin and put it a zip-lock bag in your pocket. Praying that it does not come to this!" they wrote on Facebook.

People sought help on Thursday after Laura walloped the area, but authorities couldn't reach them due to blocked streets and flooding, per the Associated Press.

A reporter traveling to Port Arthur, Texas, filmed long lines of ambulances and first responders rushing to different places where people needed help.

Laura's powerful winds even managed to topple a Confederate "Defender's Monument" in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

• Read more: 
• Hurricane Laura made landfall as a Category 4 storm Thursday morning. Here are the 18 strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history.
• Hurricane Laura jumped from Category 1 to Category 4 in a day. Here's why hurricanes are now stronger, wetter, and more frequent.
• Louisiana residents who did not evacuate ahead of Hurricane Laura are calling for help, but authorities can't get to them
• A sheriff's department in the path of Hurricane Laura told residents that if they don't evacuate the best they can do is ID them after they die

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