HOUSTON (Texas, US), May 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four people are dead and nearly 1 million customers are without power in Texas as severe storms slammed the Houston area Thursday night.
Two deaths were caused by fallen trees and one was from a crane accident, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said at a Thursday night news briefing.
Peña noted that these are not official causes of death, but are the preliminary indications of how three of the four people died. No information was provided on the fourth death.
The heavy rains and powerful storms also flooded streets and busted windows and glass on downtown buildings.
Mayor John Whitmire said the city saw “80, 90, 100 mile per hour storms,” and said “some twisters” were “mixed into strong winds.”
He urged those in his city to stay home and off the roads at the briefing.
“Stay at home, do not travel on the roads. It’s dark, there’s trees across roadways … So be very patient, cautious, look out for one another, stay at home tonight, don’t go to work tomorrow unless you’re an essential worker,” he said.
Schools in the Houston Independent School District will be closed Friday, Whitmire said.
Whitmire said at the briefing that downtown Houston is a “mess,” that firefighters were taking live wires off of Route 290 and that most traffic lights across the city are down.
He said agencies in the city will be working around the clock and through the night to clear debris and make conditions safer for those in Houston.
In an earlier statement, Whitmire said “many roads are impassible due to downed power lines, debris, and fallen trees.” He also touched on the “significant” power outages and reports of damage in the area.
In Harris County, where Houston is, nearly 830,000 homes and business were without power at about 10 p.m. CT, according to poweroutage.us.
The National Weather Service was expecting three to 6 inches of rain to fall, with higher totals possible in some areas. A flood watch was in place through Friday morning.
The National Weather Service office in Houston warned that tornadoes were possible as “severe storms continue to roll across our coastal counties.”
Flood warnings for parts of southern Texas are in effect until Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service, covering parts of Harris County, as well as cities such as Austin, Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Houston, Madison, Montgomery, Northern Liberty, Polk, San Jacinto, Southern Liberty, Trinity, Walker, Waller and Washington.
Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia on social media urged his crews to “stay in place” as “many limbs are down making roads unsafe.” He added that his teams were on standby to begin removing debris “once winds diminish.” — NNN-AGENCIES
