DALLAS — The National Weather Service warned of "unsurvivable" storm surges Wednesday night.
Thursday, Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie said he's thankful Hurricane Laura "spared his city."
There is still lots of storm damage and many are without power in the area. Out at the Port Arthur seawall Thursday, KBMT saw a light post completely blown off of its foundation, with wires exposed.
Most structural damage in the area happened on Memorial Boulevard, while residents in the area mostly dealt with downed trees and power outages.
Piles of debris were spotted in front of some businesses and pieces of a roof from a Sonic Drive-In restaurant were torn off. A few power poles were down in the area as well.
Most businesses were still closed or not open at all Thursday, but one convenience store worker said he's already open and trying to help as many people as he can.
"It's a bad time right now and we are lucky at least, too that we didn't get any water," said Food Spot #1 worker Frank Aziz. "A lot of people – they need something."
Mayor Bartie said he's thankful the storm didn't cause any more damage.
"I am just overwhelmed, overjoyed and very thankful and I think our entire city is thankful that we were actually spared the brunt of this hurricane and I am just thrilled," he said.
Bartie said he believes 70 percent of people in Port Arthur have evacuated and is urging those people to hold off on returning until at least Saturday morning so repair crews can get everything cleaned up and fixed.