Fourteen people are now confirmed dead in the United States after Hurricane Laura battered southern states, BBC News reported.

Ten of the victims were in Louisiana and four in Texas.

Winds of up to 240km/h caused severe damage, with power cuts to more than half a million homes and a chemical fire from an industrial plant.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has asked the federal government for immediate financial assistance in dealing with the fallout.

President Donald Trump will travel to the two states on Saturday to meet with people affected by the hurricane, the White House said.

In Haiti, which was earlier badly hit by storms Marco and Laura, at least 31 people are now reported to have died.