LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The U.S. National Hurricane Center has downgraded Laura to a tropical depression as the storm system crosses Arkansas.
Maximum sustained winds were recorded at 35 mph (55 kph) late Thursday, according to the hurricane center’s 10 p.m. CDT update. Forecasters said Laura was centered about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north-northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas.
Laura smashed across the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 hurricane early Thursday. The system maintained hurricane strength for about 11 hours before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
The Miami-based center said the storm system is expected to continue moving over Arkansas in the night and then on into the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday before reaching the mid-Atlantic States on Saturday. It says the system will dump heavy rains in spots, raising the risk of flash floods.
A reported tornado tore part of the roof from a rural church in northeastern Arkansas as the remnants of Hurricane Laura crossed the state.
Craighead County was under a tornado warning with there was a report of a tornado on the ground Thursday night near the Refuge Baptist Church in the western end of Lake City, Arkansas, 15 miles east of Jonesboro. Jonesboro E-911 Director Jeff Presley said a gas line also was ruptured, but no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, Presley says rescue crews were working to extricate a woman after she was trapped when storm winds dropped a tree limb on her mobile home in Jonesboro.
Major roof damage was reported in the Goobertown, a community 10 miles (16 kilometers) northeast of Jonesboro, Presley said.