Hurricane Laura makes landfall in southwestern Louisiana

Hurricane Laura bring winds and rain in High Island, Texas (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Hurricane Laura has made landfall in southwestern Louisiana as a ferocious Category 4 monster, swamping a low-lying coast with ocean water that forecasters said could be 20ft deep and unsurvivable.

The National Hurricane Centre said the storm, which intensified rapidly on Wednesday before ploughing into land, came ashore near Cameron, a 400-person community about 30 miles east of the Texas border.