Before-and-after photos show destruction caused by Hurricane Laura

A before-and-after photo shows the destruction caused by Hurricane Laura when it hit Louisiana. (Maxar/ Storyful)

TORONTO — Images taken from space show the widespread damage Hurricane Laura left in Louisiana after making landfall this week.

Maxar Technologies, a satellite and spacecraft company, released images showing the before-and-after devastation caused by Laura, which left several buildings destroyed and countless residents homeless.

Some of the images were posted to Twitter to show the damage in Lake Charles where nearly all buildings in the vicinity of Region Airport were torn to pieces when the Category Four storm struck.

Another image shows a neighbourhood where entire homes were destroyed and trees torn from the ground.

“Significant damage to homes, buildings and infrastructure” is evident in the imagery, Maxar said.

According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the “life-threatening storm” caused severe winds and flooding rainfall. Sustained winds reached a maximum of 100 mph (160 km/h) on Thursday morning.

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