As Hurricane Laura traversed northward across the Gulf of Mexico in late August, outgoing swell propagated into the lower Texas coastal waters on August 27th. This swell was powerful enough to push water into the dunes across South Padre Island around high tide, which occurred at 2:36 AM CDT. The highest level that was reported was 1.87 feet above Mean Higher-High Water (MHHW; or the level above normally dry ground at the shoreline)  at 3:06 AM CDT, but levels remained above 1.25 feet MHHW from 11 PM CDT on August 26th until noon on August 27th. This activity was enough to cause some coastal erosion.
Farther up the coast, similar wave action and minor coastal flooding was likely - but there were no comparative measurements based on MHHW.

Storm Surge/Tide in COASTAL CAMERON, TEXAS
From 26-AUG-20 18:00:00 to 27-AUG-20 11:45:00 (CST-6)
Reported by: Buoy

As swell from Hurricane Laura reached the lower Texas coast late on August 26th, the wave energy from this swell combined with high tide at 2:36 AM CDT on the 27th, allowed water levels to remain above 1.25 feet MHHW at the Brazos Santiago NDBC buoy from 11 PM on the 26th through noon on the 27th. The peak water level of 1.87 feet MHHW occurred at 3:06 AM CDT on the 27th. This activity caused some coastal erosion along the beaches of South Padre Island as high waves (up to 10+ feet in some cases) set-up and ran up into gaps in the dunes, into the dunes, or calved more robust dunes by erosion. Erosion began several hours prior to high tide due to wave action as Laura propagated its peak swell four to six hours prior to landfall.

Storm Surge/Tide in COASTAL WILLACY, TEXAS
From 26-AUG-20 20:00:00 to 27-AUG-20 13:45:00 (CST-6)
Reported by: C-MAN Station

As swell from Hurricane Laura reached the lower Texas coast late on August 26th, the wave energy from this swell combined with high tide (Port Mansfield Channel Entrance) at approximately 2:11 AM CDT  on the 27th, likely produced minor coastal flooding in the form of run-up to and just into the dunes at narrow beaches of Willacy County, both south and north of the Mansfield cut. Unknown is the degree of erosion; assumed is erosion similar to what was observed at South Padre Island. A peak water level of 1.8 feet above Mean Higher-High Water (MHHW, or above normally dry ground on the shoreline) occurred at 10:12 AM CST on the 27th at the Realitos Peninsula tide guage, inshore (Laguna Madre) about 11 miles southwest of the Willacy County barrier island line.

Storm Surge/Tide in COASTAL KENEDY COUNTY, TEXAS
From 26-AUG-20 22:00:00 to 27-AUG-20 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Reported by: C-MAN Station

As swell from Hurricane Laura reached the lower Texas coast late on August 26th and early on August 27th, the wave energy from this swell combined with high tide (Port Mansfield Channel Entrance and Malaquite Beach) at approximately 2:11 AM CDT  on the 27th, likely produced minor coastal flooding in the form of run-up to and just into the dunes at narrow beaches of Willacy County, both south and north of the Mansfield cut. Unknown is the degree of erosion; assumed is erosion similar to what was observed at South Padre Island. Unfortunately, due to heavy erosion from Hurricane Hanna a month earlier, as well as the difficult-to-reach location on Padre Island National Seashore, it is unknown how much additional erosion occurred along the Kenedy County barrier island.