Although the storm surge was less than projected, Laura was responsible for at least six deaths and extensive property damage.

In coastal Cameron Parish, La., search-and-rescue helicopters flew low over Holly Beach on Thursday.Credit...Matthew Busch for The New York Times

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Soon after Hurricane Laura slammed into the Louisiana coast in the dark of night, a city of oil refineries and casinos some 30 miles inland awakened to scenes of unfolding chaos: A 22-story contemporary office tower in Lake Charles with windows stripped and smashed. A casino boat, wedged under the bridge over the Calcasieu River. Plumes of dark gray smoke from a chemical fire staining the blue of a post-storm sky.

Wind gusts, measured at up to 132 miles per hour at the local airport, sheared the top of a sky bridge, tossed an R.V. on its side and downed power lines and trees. It even toppled a soaring monument to Confederate soldiers that the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury had declined to take down this month despite calls to do so from Black Lives Matter activists.