Aerial images show stark destruction from Laura

From the air, the destruction of Hurricane Laura is especially stark. Photographs from The Associated Press show entire neighborhoods surrounded by green-brown floodwater. A glassy high-rise stands with most of its windows missing. An airport hangar is shredded into ribbons of metal.

After days of gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico, Laura grew into one of the most powerful storms ever to strike the U.S., a Category 4 monster with 150 mph winds that surpassed even Katrina, which hit Louisiana almost exactly 15 years ago.

Laura pounded the Gulf Coast with wind and rain, unleashed a fearsom...