Devastating storms continue to rip through Texas, killing at least four people and leaving nearly a million residents without power.
Severe thunderstorms descended on Houston on Thursday – with winds of up to 125 kilometers per hour causing apocalyptic scenes in southeastern Texas.
The ensuing power outages could last weeks in parts of Houston, an official warned Friday, after hurricane-force winds ripped through the city.
Raging storms have knocked out electricity to nearly a million homes and businesses in the region and caused chaos by smashing 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 damage and number of victims.
A car stands under fallen rocks in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm on Friday, May 17, 2024 in Houston
Blown out windows of a downtown high-rise building are shown in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm on Friday, May 17
Rapper Trae tha Truth, in yellow, cuts down fallen tree branches on top of a car in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm that swept through downtown Thursday
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said four and possibly five people were killed after storms tore through the county, which includes Houston, on Thursday.
‘It was intense. It was intense. “It happened quickly and most Houstonians didn’t have time to get themselves out of harm’s way,” Whitmire said at a news conference.
With several cell towers down, Hidalgo urged 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 will have to talk about this disaster in weeks, not days,” Hidalgo said.
She said she heard “horror stories of sheer terror and powerlessness” when the storm broke through.
The widespread destruction brought much of Houston to a standstill. Trees, debris and broken glass littered the streets.
School districts in the Houston area canceled classes for more than 400,000 students and government offices were closed.
City officials urged people to avoid downtown and stay off the roads, many of which were flooded or lined with downed power lines and malfunctioning traffic lights.
Whitmire said at least 2,500 traffic lights were out, and he warned would-be looters that “police are present, including 50 state troopers deployed to the area to prevent looting.”
At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another happened when a crane blew over in high winds, officials said.
The problems spread to the city’s suburbs, with emergency services in neighboring Montgomery County describing damage to transmission lines as “catastrophic.”
Broken glass covers a downtown street in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm on Friday, May 17, 2024 in Houston
A man walks over fallen bricks of a damaged building in the chaotic scenes caused by the raging thunderstorm
Debris lies in front of a building under construction that collapsed on Memorial Heights Drive during last night’s storm
The storms were not over yet on Friday either. Gulf Coast states may experience scattered, severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.
Heavy to excessive rainfall is possible for eastern Louisiana to central Alabama, the National Weather Service said. Flood warnings and warnings remained in effect Friday for Houston and areas to the east.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Jeff Evans said the agency has not yet confirmed tornadoes touching down in and around Houston and Harris County.
“The majority of this damage is caused by straight-line winds,” which he said could have reached up to 100 miles per hour.
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 trees and utility poles.
A suspected tornado struck the Romeville area of St. James Parish on Thursday evening, striking some homes and toppling trees, but no injuries or fatalities were reported, parish officials said in a social media post Friday morning.
Ada Duarte takes orders using only the light of her phone after losing power at Anita’s Honduras Restaurant on Sowden Road in the aftermath of the storm
A Houston police officer walks back to his vehicle after clearing people from a damaged tire shop at the intersection of Sowden and Bingle
A U.S. Postal Service truck lies on its side at the intersection of Bingle and Sowden in Houston
The New Orleans and Baton Rouge office has issued flash flood warnings through Saturday.
Severe storms have battered the Houston area during the first week of Mayleading to numerous high-water rescues, including some from the roofs of flooded houses.
Shocking videos from Houston show the devastation caused by swirling winds of 100 miles per hour, blowing through tall windows and causing untold damage to downtown infrastructure while knocking out power to some nine hundred thousand people.
Images circulating online show water billowing in the wind as trees are battered by the storm and pedestrians in the city are left unable to protect themselves from the deluge.
Buildings are seen to have entire walls stripped during the storms, with one car crushed under the weight of bricks from a falling wall in the city.
