The powerful storm made landfall in southwestern Louisiana. Catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding are already occurring in areas.

The city of Lake Charles has experienced some damage as the eyewall of Hurricane Laura passes over it, authorities told CNN.

However, the extent of the damage is not yet known. 

There is no flooding so far in the downtown area, Hoefer added.

CNN is tracking Hurricane Laura's path here:

Power outages in Louisiana and Texas are climbing at a rapid pace this morning, after Hurricane Laura made landfall on the Gulf Coast.

There are now nearly 285,000 customers without power in both states, according to PowerOutage.US. 

Nearly 225,000 of those customers are in Louisiana, while more than 60,000 are in Texas.

Hurricane Laura is now sitting over Lake Charles, Louisiana, and maximum sustained winds have fallen slightly to 140 mph.

It's still a Category 4 storm, though meteorologists had previously forecast that it would weaken rapidly after moving inland.

Where is it going next? Winds in the eye of the hurricane will decrease dramatically for an hour or more, before the southern eyewall moves over Lake Charles and brings gusts over 100 mph once again, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm continues to move north at about 15 mph, and the eyewall will head across southwestern Louisiana in the coming hours.

"It's hitting with such force, this could still be a Category 1 well up into the state of Arkansas. They could lose power in Little Rock as well," warned CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.

Austin Lewis is riding out Hurricane Laura on his tugboat in Hackberry, Louisiana -- and he's now sitting in the eye of the hurricane.

Hackberry lies south of Lake Charles and north of Cameron, where the hurricane made landfall just over an hour ago.

There's not much rain at the moment, he said. The wind is at a low roar outside his cabin, and measuring about 30 to 40 miles per hour on his boat's wind gauge.

He added that it was fairly common for people in the area to stay, since many of them have boats. "Everybody knew what they were getting into before they got here," he said.

Watch:

Hurricane Laura made landfall about an hour ago near Cameron, Louisiana.

The town is relatively low-lying, with only about 5 or 10 feet of elevation -- meaning "It's mostly completely underwater," said CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.

"There will not be a chance to get to that area until late in the morning," he added.

The eye of the storm is now moving over Lake Charles, lying further north. Already, the conditions have deteriorated severely; winds are howling, and storm chasers have reported glass being blown everywhere, and ears hurting from the low air pressure.

"Right now you can still hear the wind. It's screaming through the cracks and crevasses of the building," said CNN correspondent Martin Savidge from Lake Charles, where the CNN crew is taking refuge indoors.

"When you were outside, you literally felt the entire building as it was shuddering under the wind blow. So it's taking a beating. And this is one of the strongest buildings in the area., it's why we chose it."

The storm surge, heavy rainfall and powerful winds mean it'll be near impossible to assess the damage until the morning -- first responders won't be able to travel in those conditions, and drones or aircraft won't be able to get any aerial pictures. Roads will be submerged and power lines will have fallen, making transport or rescue efforts even harder.

Hear more:

CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge is in Lake Charles, Louisiana, about 30 miles away from the eye of Hurricane Laura, which has made landfall near Cameron.

"You're really getting a sense of the volume of water and amount of wind blow that is blasting across the landscape here," Savidge said, as wind and rain gusts around him.

Savidge added that the wind was so strong it was hard to stay standing -- but the area is facing the second, potentially worse threat of storm surge.

There is a "tremendous volume of rain that's now falling down," he said. "We have slight damage on the property here, but in the exposed areas, especially right down on the coast, they would be getting hammered by all of this."

Take a look:

Authorities in Cameron, Louisiana, will probably be unable to survey damage across the parish on Thursday due to the expected tidal surge, said Ashley Buller, Cameron's Assistant Director of Emergency Preparedness.

Buller speculated that it may be Friday or Saturday before authorities could make it into the parish.

Hurricane Laura just made landfall near Cameron. Peak wind gusts in the Parish have been reported up to 127 mph in the past hour as the eye approached.

About 150 residents of the parish chose not to evacuate and ride out the storm.

Hurricane Laura, still a Category 4 storm, has made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana.

There are already "catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds, and flash flooding" taking place in some portions of the state, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane is now about 30 miles southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and about 40 miles east of Port Arthur, Texas.

Maximum winds are still a devastating 150 miles per hour, and the hurricane itself continues to move north at 15 mph.

The storm is expected to move inland across southwestern Louisiana over the coming hours, then head north across the state on Thursday afternoon. The center of the storm will then move over Arkansas and the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday, then reach the mid-Atlantic states by Saturday.

Power outages in Louisiana and Texas are continuing to climb in the early hours of Thursday morning, as Hurricane Laura inches closer to the Gulf Coast.

There are now more than 103,000 customers without power in both states, according to PowerOutage.US. 

Some 87,157 of those customers are in Louisiana, while the remaining 16,356 are in Texas.