This terrifying animation shows how high Hurricane Laura's storm surge might get

Storm surge graphics on the weather channel.
(Image credit: Screenshot/The Weather Channel on Twitter)

If the National Hurricane Center's word on Hurricane Laura's devastation isn't good enough, the Weather Channel has some visuals.

On Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center forecast the Louisiana and eastern Texas coasts would see an "unsurvivable storm surge" of 10–20 feet as a Category 4 Laura pulled in; Al Roker said he'd never heard the term used before. The Weather Channel also seemed unprepared for a surge of that magnitude. Its graphics could only show what a storm surge would look like at nine feet, but that was terrifying enough.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.