Hurricane Laura dumped rocks over miles of a Texas coastal road when it arrived early Thursday morning, according to local reports.
Highway 87 runs along the coastline of the Bolivar Peninsula on the other side of Galveston Bay, bordering the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm damaged a 6-mile stretch of road with fist-sized rocks, KHOU reported in Houston.
When authorities closed the road Wednesday night, they also closed the only road out of the area. Crews began clearing the highway early Thursday morning and reopening the road within hours.
When Hurricane Hanna hit hundreds of miles away last month, there was also a flood of rocks on Highway 87 off the coastline.
LAURA’S WINS DESTROY DESTRUCTION IN LOUISIANA, TEXAS AS WAKING STORM REPRESENTS LAND
Flooding had plagued the ABC Highway for years, according to ABC 13, and the state has spent the last two years with the increase. That work was packed in late May – just before the start of this year’s busy hurricane season.
Part of that work involved adding rocks, also called riprap, to the shoreline to try to keep water from becoming contaminated.
State road workers use earth movers to retrieve the rocks, shells, sand and other debris off Texas State Highway 87, on the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, along the beach on Saturday morning, July 25th. of the Bolivar Peninsula, the storm still had an effect on the area. (Fran Ruchalski / The Beaumont Enterprise via AP)
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Meanwhile, Laura is heading northeast, though it has weakened to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
At 5 a.m. ET Thursday, Laura was about 80 miles northeast of Shreveport, La., Heading for the Ohio and Tennessee valleys at about 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Flooding, heavy showers and tropical wind gusts began to buffalo parts of Arkansas. Tropical storm warnings were in effect in northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas and the western edge of the Mississippi. Tornadoes were possible from central and eastern Arkansas to Mississippi through Thursday night, according to the weather service.
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The storm knocked out power for more than 900,000 residents in four states as of Thursday afternoon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
