HOLLY BEACH, LA – AUGUST 27: A damaged travel trailer sits among flood water after Hurricane Laura passed through the area August 27, 2020 in Holly Beach, Louisiana. Hurricane Laura came ashore bringing rain and high winds to the South East region of the state causing extensive damage to the area. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
An aerial view from a drone shows a damaged hotel in Lake Charles. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Damage in Holly Beach, Louisiana. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
A journalist photographs damage left in the wake of Hurricane Laura in Holly Beach, La. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Smoke rises from what is reported to be a chemical plant fire after Hurricane Laura passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Damaged homes sit in flood water in Holly Beach, Louisiana. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
Journalists examine damage left in the wake of Hurricane Laura in Holly Beach, La. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A damaged home is seen after Hurricane Laura passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana . The hurricane hit with powerful winds causing extensive damage to the city. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Journalists examine damage left in the wake of Hurricane Laura, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, in Holly Beach, La. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A truck and Interstate 10 sign in Lake Charles, La., after Hurricane Laura moved through the state. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Chris Johnson views destruction at his home in Lake Charles, La., after Hurricane Laura moved through the state. Johnson stayed in his home as the storm passed. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A cat walks through debris at Chris Johnson’s home in Lake Charles, La., after Hurricane Laura moved through the state. Johnson stayed in his home as the storm passed. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Dustin Amos walks near debris at a gas station in Lake Charles. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
James Sonya surveys what is left of his uncles barber shop after Hurricane Laura passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A street is strewn with debris and downed power lines in Lake Charles, Louisiana . (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A person walks through a building with its windows blown out in the downtown area of Lake Charles, La., after Hurricane Laura passed through. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Reginald Duhon prepares to work at his home in Lake Charles, La., after Hurricane Laura moved through the state. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
People stand next to a hotel that had parts of its roof blown off as Hurricane Laura passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana. The hurricane hit with powerful winds causing extensive damage to the city. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A room that had its roof blown off is seen in a hotel after Hurricane Laura passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
An escalator is seen in a building that had its windows blown in the downtown area of Lake Charles, La. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Kyana Myers looks into a room that had its roof blown off as Hurricane Laura passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana.(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A Lake Charles police officer helps clear the streets in the downtown area after Hurricane Laura. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A street is strewn with debris and downed power lines after Hurricane Laura passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A Lake Charles police officer helps clear the streets in the downtown area. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Debris near a business in Lake Charles, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A building with its windows blown out is seen in the downtown area of Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Flooding caused by Hurricane Laura on Thursday in Sabine Pass, Texas. Hurricane Laura came ashore bringing rain and high winds to the eastern part of the state. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
A building that was damaged overnight by Hurricane Laura stands in Lake Charles, La., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. (Stephen Jones via AP)
Down power lines stretch across a road in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura in Sabine Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Flooding caused by Hurricane Laura on Thursday in Sabine Pass, Texas. Hurricane Laura came ashore bringing rain and high winds to the eastern part of the state. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
A tattered American flag blows in the wind in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura in Port Arthur, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Flooding caused by Hurricane Laura in Sabine Pass, Texas. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
A cemetery along Privateer Blvd. in Barataria, La. is inundated in water as water levels surge before Hurricane Laura on, Wednesday in Barataria, La. (Max Becherer/The Advocate via AP)
The storm surge begins to rise ahead of Hurricane Laura on Wednesday in Sabine Pass, Texas. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
Hurricane Laura pounded the Gulf Coast for hours with ferocious wind, torrential rains and rising seawater as it roared ashore over southwestern Louisiana near the Texas border early Thursday, threatening the lives of people who didn’t evacuate.
Laura’s howling winds battered a tall building in Lake Charles, blowing out windows as glass and debris flew to the ground. Police spotted a floating casino that got loose and crunched against a bridge. But hours after landfall, the wind and rain were still blowing too hard to check for survivors.
“There are some people still in town and people are calling … but there ain’t no way to get to them,” Tony Guillory, president of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, said early Thursday morning over the phone as he hunkered down in a Lake Charles government building that was shaking from the storm.
Guillory said he hopes stranded people can be rescued later Thursday but fears that blocked roads, downed power lines and flooding could get in the way.