LAKE CHARLES, LA — The remnants of ********* Laura unleashed heavy rain and twisters hundreds of miles inland from the Gulf Coast, and now forecasters are warning of new dangers as the tropical weather blows toward the Eastern Seaboard this weekend.

Flooding and more tornadoes were possible Friday as the leftovers of the Category 4 *********, now a tropical depression, move eastward.

Forecasters said it could become a tropical storm again when it moves off the mid-Atlantic coast.

More than 750,000 homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas in the storm’s wake.

One of the strongest hurricanes ever to ****** the United States, Laura was blamed for six ****** as it barrelled ashore near the Louisiana-Texas state line.

“It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute, catastrophic damage that we thought was likely,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said. “But we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage.’’

Finishing search and rescue efforts was a top priority, Edwards said, followed by efforts to find hotel or motel rooms for those unable to stay in their homes. Officials in Texas and Louisiana both sought to avoid traditional **** shelters to avoid spreading ********.

Edwards called Laura the most powerful ********* to ****** Louisiana, meaning it surpassed even Katrina, which was a Category 3 storm when it hit in 2005.

The *********’s top wind speed of 241 kph put it among the strongest systems on record in the U.S. Not until 11 hours after landfall did Laura finally lose ********* status as it plowed north and thrashed Arkansas. It remained a tropical storm Thursday night, sustaining winds of 65 kph, flooding roads and spawning tornadoes.

The storm crashed ashore in low-lying Louisiana and clobbered Lake Charles, an industrial and casino city of 80,000 people. On Broad Street, many buildings partially collapsed. Windows were blown out, awnings ripped away and trees split in eerily misshapen ways. A floating casino came unmoored and hit a bridge, and small planes were thrown atop each other at the airport.

The extent of the damage was just coming into focus when a massive plume of ***** began rising from a chemical plant outside Lake Charles. ****** said the leak was at a facility run by Biolab, which manufactures chemicals used in household cleaners and chlorine powder for pools. Nearby residents were told to close their doors and windows, and the **** smouldered into the night.

A lower-than-expected storm ***** also helped save lives. Edwards said ocean water rose as much as 12 feet (4 metres) rather than the 20 feet (6 metres) that was predicted.

More than 580,000 coastal residents evacuated despite fears of *********** **********. It’s unclear when their journeys might end. There’s no electricity or running water in many places, and the coastal towns of Cameron and Holly Beach were swamped. Restoring essential services could take weeks.

Laura was the seventh named storm to ****** the U.S. this year, setting a new record for U.S. landfalls by the end of August. Laura hit the U.S. after ******* nearly two dozen people in Haiti and the D.R.