Hurricane Laura was a deadly and destructive tropical cyclone. Hurricane Laura, the 1856 Last Island hurricane and Hurricane Ida are the strongest hurricanes to make landfall in Louisiana in terms of maximum sustained winds, and the strongest to affect Louisiana since Hurricane Camille brought category 5 winds to the rural southeast portion of the state. The twelfth named storm, fourth hurricane, and first major storm of the record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Laura formed from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of West Africa on August 16, and formed into a tropical depression by August 20. On August 21, Laura strengthened into a tropical storm, becoming the earliest twelfth named storm, and breaking 1995's Hurricane Luis's record by eight days.