Devastating storms continue to hit Texas; at least four people have died and nearly a million residents are without power.
Strong storms hit Houston on Thursday, with winds reaching up to 78 miles per hour, causing apocalyptic scenes across southeast Texas.
Subsequent power outages could last weeks in parts of Houston, an official warned Friday, after hurricane-force winds hit the city.
The severe storms knocked out power to nearly a million homes and businesses in the region and caused chaos by breaking windows and overturning vehicles.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top elected official, said crews were still trying to determine the extent of the damage and the number of victims.
A car lies under fallen bricks after a severe thunderstorm on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston.
Broken windows on a high-rise building in the city center are shown after a severe storm on Friday, May 17.
Rapper Trae tha Truth, dressed in yellow, cuts branches from fallen trees on top of a car after a severe storm hit the city center on Thursday.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said four, and possibly five, people died after storms hit the county, which includes Houston, on Thursday.
‘It was fierce. It was intense. “It was quick and most Houstonians didn’t have time to get to safety,” Whitmire said at a news conference.
With multiple transmission towers down, Hidalgo asked for patience. Thousands of utility workers were heading to the area, where power had already been restored to about 200,000 customers. Another 100,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, down from a peak of 215,000.
“We’re going to have to talk about this disaster in weeks, not days,” Hidalgo said.
He said he had heard “horror stories, just horror and helplessness” while riding through the storm.
Widespread destruction paralyzed much of Houston. Trees, debris and broken glass littered the streets.
Houston-area school districts canceled classes for more than 400,000 students and government offices were closed.
City officials urged people to avoid downtown and stay off roads, many of which were flooded or littered with downed power lines and nonworking traffic lights.
Whitmire said at least 2,500 traffic lights were out and warned potential looters that “law enforcement is out in force, including 50 state troopers sent to the area to prevent looting.”
At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another occurred when a crane overturned in high winds, authorities said.
The problems spread to the city’s suburbs, with emergency officials in neighboring Montgomery County describing damage to transmission lines as “catastrophic.”
Broken glass covers a downtown street after a severe thunderstorm on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston
A man walks on fallen bricks from a damaged building in the chaotic scenes caused by the storm
Debris lies in front of a building under construction that collapsed during last night’s storm on Memorial Heights Drive.
The storms didn’t end on Friday either. Gulf Coast states could experience scattered severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds.
Heavy or excessive rainfall is possible from eastern Louisiana to central Alabama, the National Weather Service said. Flood watches and warnings remained on Friday for Houston and areas to the east.
National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Evans said the agency had not yet confirmed any tornadoes touching down in and around Houston and Harris County.
“Most of this damage is due to straight-line winds,” which he said could have reached up to 100 mph (160 kph).
The Storm Prediction Center website showed a report of a tornado in Convent, Louisiana, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) from New Orleans, with multiple reports of downed trees and power poles.
A suspected tornado struck the Romeville area of St. James Parish Thursday night, with some homes impacted and trees downed, but no injuries or deaths reported, parish officials said in a social media post on Friday morning.
Ada Duarte takes takeout orders using only the light on her phone after losing power at Anita’s Honduras restaurant on Sowden Road following the storm.
A Houston police officer returns to his vehicle after removing people from a damaged tire store at the intersection of Sowden and Bingle.
U.S. Postal Service truck rolls over on its side at Bingle and Sowden intersection in Houston
The New Orleans and Baton Rouge office issued a flash flood warning through Saturday.
Strong storms hit the Houston area during the first week of mayprompting numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes.
Shocking videos coming out of Houston show the devastation wrought by swirling 100 mph winds, which shattered skyscraper windows and caused untold damage to downtown infrastructure, leaving some nine hundred thousand people without power.
Images circulating online show sheets of water churning in the wind as trees are battered by the gale and pedestrians in the city are left unable to protect themselves from the deluge.
The buildings are seen to have had entire walls stripped away during the storms, and the photo shows a car crushed under the weight of bricks from a wall falling into the city.