Incredible timelapse video shows plane flying through eye of Hurricane Laura

This extraordinary timelapse video captures a plane's flight through the eye of Hurricane Laura as the storm continues to wreak havoc in the US.

In the clip, the plane can be seen battling through dark clouds and strong winds over the Gulf of Mexico.

It comes as the storm weakens but still poses a danger as it unleashes heavy rain and causes tornadoes hundreds of miles inland.

At least six people have died after the one of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the US barrelled across Texas and Louisiana.

A full assessment of the damage could take days.

Despite demolished buildings, entire neighbourhoods left in ruins and hundreds of thousands and businesses without power along the coast, Laura was not the annihilating storm forecasters had feared.

Forecasters are now that warning a turn towards the east may spell new dangers for the Eastern Seaboard over the weekend.

The threat of tornadoes was forecast to redevelop on Friday, less than a day after a reported tornado tore through a church and homes in northeastern Arkansas.

Trees were reported down and power was out where what was left of the once fearsome Category 4 hurricane packing 150-mph winds spun over the state.

No injuries were immediately reported. Around 45,000 customers were without electricity in Arkansas early Friday.

Laura weakened to a tropical depression late Thursday, but forecasters said the possibility of more tornadoes and up to 5 inches (13 cm) of rain was headed for the Tennessee Valley region before the system closed in on the Mid-Atlantic states by Saturday.

"It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute, catastrophic damage that we thought was likely," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said.

"But we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage." He called Laura the most powerful hurricane to strike Louisiana, meaning it surpassed even Katrina, which was a Category 3 storm when it hit in 2005.

The hurricane's top wind speed of 150 mph (241 kph) put it among the strongest systems on record in the US.

Not until 11 hours after landfall did Laura finally lose hurricane status as it ploughed north and thrashed Arkansas and up until Thursday evening it remained a tropical storm with winds of 40 mph (65 kph).

The storm crashed ashore in low-lying Louisiana and clobbered Lake Charles, an industrial and casino city of 80,000 people.

The fatalities included a 14-year-old girl and a 68-year-old man who died when trees fell on their homes in Louisiana, as well as a 24-year-old man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator inside his residence.

Another man drowned in a boat that sank during the storm, authorities said.

No deaths had been confirmed in Texas, which Republican Governor Greg Abbott called "a miracle".

It was unclear when the journey home would be complete for more than 580,000 coastal residents who evacuated under the shadow of a coronavirus pandemic.

Although not everyone fled, officials credited those who did leave with minimising the loss of life. A lower-than-expected storm surge also helped save lives.

President Donald Trump planned to visit the Gulf Coast this weekend to tour the damage.

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