Four people were killed and about a million people were left without power as intense thunderstorms swept through Texas Thursday evening, bringing heavy rain, damaging winds and dangerous flooding to parts of the state already flooded this month.
There were reports of blown out windows, a collapsed office building wall and downed power lines across Houston as a powerful storm tore through downtown. Four people were killed, officials said at a news conference. At least two people were killed by falling trees and one in an accident involving a crane toppled by high winds, according to Samuel Peña, the city’s fire chief.
Much of Houston was hit by winds reaching speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, rivaling speeds seen during Hurricane Ike, with “a few tornadoes mixed in,” the city’s mayor said, John Whitmire, during the briefing. It will take at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours in some parts of the city to restore power, he said.
THE public school district in Houston said all schools would be closed Friday. Emergency workers warned residents to stay home, saying most traffic lights were out across the city and firefighters had to remove a live power line from a main highway.
Local television news reported considerable damage in downtown Houston, with metal panels twisted by the force of the winds and glass broken.
Forecasters have released a series of flash flood warnings across the state earlier in the afternoon, warning Texans in those areas to seek higher ground and avoid driving on flooded roads.
Pictures and videos are circulating on social networks moving out of east-central Texas on Thursday showed vehicles that appeared to be struggling driving on flooded roads in College Station, Texas, which was under a flash flood warning all evening.
A video posted in the evening showed strong winds whipping large sign structures at Minute Maid Park, where the Houston Astros were playing the Oakland Athletics.
THE Weather Forecast Center said earlier Thursday that more than 12 million people across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi faced the threat of excessive rainfall that could produce flash flooding and warned of possible heavy rain and flooding in the north of the Houston area Thursday evening.
Lina Hidalgo, the top executive in Harris County, which includes Houston, said earlier: social networks this rain was expected to move “fairly quickly” into Harris County Thursday evening.
“But the worst-case scenario is that heavy rain could hit the East Fork of the San Jacinto River, impacting residents and possibly causing more flooding as the weekend approaches,” she said.
Parts of Harris County, including areas near the San Jacinto River, had already been hit by significant flooding earlier this month. The flooding prompted Ms. Hidalgo to issue a disaster declaration that would provide federal aid to Harris County residents affected by the storms.
