Hurricane Laura was so powerful it forced a Texas river to flow backwards for hours

A Texas river was flowing fast as outer bands of Hurricane Laura swept over the Gulf shoreline near the Louisiana border.

Then the category 4 storm forced the river to do something against its nature.

The Neches River in Beaumont peaked at a flow rate of 15,000 cubic feet per second as Laura made landfall, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That’s fast enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool in six seconds.

As Laura hit land — packing torrential winds and a powerful storm surge — the river slowed to a halt. But the hurricane wasn’t finished having its way.

The river reversed direction, flowing backwards up to 7,600 cubic feet per second — fast enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in about 12 seconds. By comparison, that’s slower than the 2,000-3,000 cubic feet per second the river was flowing in the days before Laura arrived.

The river finally resumed its normal flow after about 12 hours.

The hurricane also sent the Mississippi River flowing backwards, though less dramatically, CNN reported. A widely viewed time-lapse video on Twitter shows the river flowing north as barges struggle to travel downriver.

The Neches River last reversed course during Hurricane Ike in 2008, officials say.

“That, of course, was far more dramatic, with the Neches River flowing backwards at around 30,000 cubic feet per second upriver, or enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in about 3 seconds,” according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Shrimpers sought shelter from Laura in Texas. Generator fumes may have killed them