At least four people were dead after fierce thunderstorms swept hurricane-force winds through Houston, blowing windows out of downtown skyscrapers, flipping vehicles and toppling transmission towers.
Power outages could last weeks in parts of the city after the storm knocked out electricity to nearly 1 million homes and businesses in the region, an official warned Friday.
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 casualties. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said four or five people were dead after the storm swept through Harris County, which includes Houston, on Thursday.
“It was fierce. It was intense. It was quick, and most Houstonians didn’t have time to place themselves out of harm's way,” Whitmire said at a news conference.
With multiple transmission towers down, Hidalgo urged patience. Thousands of utility workers were headed to the area, where power had already been restored to roughly 200,000 customers. An additional 100,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, down from a peak of 215,000.
“We are going to have to talk about this disaster in weeks, not days,” Hidalgo said.
She said she had heard “horror stories of just terror and powerlessness” as the storm came through.
Noelle Delgado’s heart sank as she pulled up Thursday night to Houston Pets Alive, the animal rescue organization where she is executive director. The dogs and cats — more than 30 in all — were uninjured, but the awning had been ripped off, the sign was mangled and water was leaking inside. With power expected to be out for some time and temperatures forecast to climb into the 90s Saturday, she hoped to find foster homes for the animals.
“I could definitely tell that this storm was a little different,” she said. “It felt terrifying.”
The widespread destruction brought much of Houston to a standstill. Trees, debris and shattered glass littered the streets. One building's wall was ripped off.
School districts in the Houston area canceled classed for more than 400,000 students, and government offices were closed. City officials urged people to stay off roads, many of which were flooded or surrounded by downed power lines and malfunctioning traffic lights.
Whitmire said at least 2,500 traffic lights were out. He also warned would-be thieves that “police are out in force."
At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another happened when a crane blew over in strong winds, officials said.
National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Evans said the agency had not yet confirmed any tornadoes touching down in Harris County. “The majority of this damage is straight-line winds,” which he said could have reached up to 100 mph.
The Storm Prediction Center’s website showed a report of a tornado in Convent, La., about 55 miles west of New Orleans, with reports of trees and power poles down.
Elsewhere in Louisiana, a suspected tornado hit the Romeville area of St. James Parish on Thursday night, with some homes damaged and trees down but no injuries or fatalities reported, parish officials said in a social media post Friday morning.
There were wind gusts of 84 mph at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and 82 mph at New Orleans Lakefront Airport, according to Tim Erickson, a meteorologist at the weather service’s office for New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The office issued a flash flood warning through Saturday.
Oyekanmi and Phillip write for the Associated Press. AP reporters Jamie Stengle is Dallas and Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen , Texas, contributed. to this report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .
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