Texas weather: At least 1 dead as storms and high winds knock out power to communities and flood roads – and the threat is not yet over

CNN
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At least one person was killed and more than 700,000 customers in Texas remained without power Tuesday night as powerful storms brought a new round of severe weather to a state still reeling from a nearly incessant parade of storms destructive and murderous in recent weeks.

The storms dumped hurricane-force wind gusts in the Dallas area on Tuesday and then ravaged Houston in the afternoon, where the city’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport recorded a 75 mph wind gust .

About 40 miles northwest of Houston, a person died after a home under construction collapsed in a Magnolia subdivision, the city’s fire department said. The victim – described as a “young man” by Magnolia firefighters – was pulled from a pile of debris by firefighters and pronounced dead.

Magnolia Fire Division Chief Jason Herrman confirmed to CNN that the house collapse was linked to a storm Tuesday with “significant winds.”

Videos captured in Houston and Dallas Communities revealed scenes of disaster and flooding on Tuesday. Images from north Dallas obtained by CNN showed several cars stranded on a flooded roadway, surrounded by frequent lightning as the rain continued. In other communities, powerful winds uprooted trees and forced them into homes and tore down neighborhood fences, leaving communities in disarray.

Power outages began intensifying early Tuesday morning in the Dallas area, then spread south as storms roared across the state, according to PowerOutage.us. Hundreds of thousands of outages occurred in Dallas County, where authorities issued a disaster declaration and warned that outages could last for several days.

READ: White House announces action to modernize power grid and pave way for fewer outages

These storms arrived even as some residents are still mourning at least seven people killed in the state during severe storms over Memorial Day weekend. In total, at least two dozen people, including four children, were killed in six states as storms battered the central United States during the holiday season, and several communities are grappling with significant loss of life. homes and businesses.

Sunday was the busiest severe weather day of the year so far, with more than 600 reports of strong winds or hail in more than 20 states, including gusts over 75 mph and hail the size of a softball. Twenty-six tornado reports were also made across 10 states. The storms turned homes and businesses into piles of rubble, tossed cars and brought down power lines.

Parts of Texas and far western Louisiana face the most serious severe weather threat Tuesday. Large hail, lightning and wind gusts up to 80 mph are the main threats from any storm. A few tornadoes could also occur, according to the National Weather Service.

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And some areas buffeted by winds, storms and hail earlier Tuesday were still threatened overnight: A tornado watch was in effect for parts of northwest Texas until 9 p.m. CT; in the southwestern part of the state, a severe thunderstorm watch was in effect until 9 p.m.; and two other severe thunderstorm watches were in effect across the Texas Panhandle to the Colorado-Kansas border.

The weather also spelled misery for hundreds of travelers. More than 600 flights to and from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport have been canceled – and more than 900 flights to and from both airports have been delayed, according to FlightAware data.

More than 75 flights to and from William P. Hobby Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston were canceled, while more than 530 were delayed.

It could take days to fully restore power to the Dallas-Fort Worth area after severe storms unleashed hurricane-force wind gusts Tuesday morning. Dallas is the second major Texas city to see its critical electrical infrastructure damaged by severe weather in less than two weeks.

“Unfortunately, this will be a multi-day power outage situation, similar to what occurred in Harris County and Houston,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins warned during the hearing. a press conference on Tuesday.

A derecho and tornado in mid-May blew 100 mph wind gusts through metro Houston, killing several people and knocking out power for days.

The extent of the damage to the Dallas area’s electrical infrastructure is still being assessed, but the current prognosis is concerning, according to Grant Cruise, a spokesman for Oncor, the largest utility company in the State.

“We had a significant number of lines go down because of this weather event,” Cruise said during Tuesday’s news conference. “In many cases these will not be simple repairs, we are looking at a complete rebuild of parts of our area.”

The storm damage prompted Jenkins to issue a disaster declaration for Dallas County.

The outages come as some Texans head to the polls Tuesday for primary runoff elections. More than a third of Dallas County polling places were without power Tuesday afternoon, according to Jenkins.

Summer heat will ease in Texas this week, but those without power or a reliable way to cool down could still face the risk of dangerous heat stroke or heat exhaustion .

CNN’s Raja Razek, Gene Norman and Andy Rose contributed to this report.