US Gulf Coast threatened by two simultaneous tropical storms Laura and Marco

Two Tropical storms, Laura and Marco, are projected to approach the US gulf coast at hurricane force. Current predictions by experts show the storms heading towards the Texas-Louisiana border.

As per Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach, the last time two tropical storms were in the Gulf coast simultaneously was back in 1959, and the last time two separate storm systems made landfall in the US within 24 hours of each other was back in 1933.

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'Double threat' 

US National Hurricane Center has stated that both the storms will hit the Gulf coast at the same time on August 25 and both storms are predicted to make landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border with Storm Laura making landfall less than a day after Storm Marco.

During a news conference on August 22, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency and said, “We are in unprecedented times, we are dealing with not only two potential storms in the next few hours, we are also dealing with COVID-19.” The governor urged people to prepare for the storms as well as search for areas to which they can evacuate.

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Storm Laura is reported to have already stimulated rain in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and is expected to hit the Dominican Republic, Haiti and parts of Cuba while on its westward journey. The US territory declared a state of emergency and Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez has stated that the flooding caused by Storm Laura may be worse than the one caused by Storm Isaias only a few weeks ago.

On the other hand, Storm Marco is centred about 85 kilometres southwest of Cuba's western tip, headed to the north-northwest a 19 kilometres per hour. It has been reported that both storms will bring somewhere between 8 to 15 centimetres of rain to each area that they pass and are likely to cause flooding.

(With AP Inputs)

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