The South's Defenders monument has stood since 1915 outside a US courthouse in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where local authorities voted 10-4 this month to keep it in place.

Critics call it a symbol of racism that glorifies slavery.

But a Calcasieu Parish official said when they asked for public commentsm they received 878 written responses against relocating the monument and only 67 in favour of moving it.

Now the pedestal is empty and the Confederate statue is in pieces on the ground, victim to a Category 4 hurricane that struck the city early on Thursday.

Australian Associated Press