Tornadoes near Pittsburgh; deaths in Texas

Authorities reported more weather-related deaths in Texas Friday evening after a storm system hit the Houston area. Meanwhile, severe weather is expected to do even more damage across the Southeast, bringing the risk of hail, damaging winds and tornadoes to the region over the weekend.

The National Weather Service issued tornado watches for parts of southern Georgia, southeast Alabama and the Florida Panhandle Friday evening and confirmed three tornado landfalls in the Pittsburgh area.

The NWS also issued flash flood warnings Friday evening for parts of Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio and Florida. Up to 3.5 inches of rain has already fallen in some areas, the weather service said, and more is on the way.

The latest round of severe weather comes after Houston woke up to scenes of destruction. Severe storms with winds of up to 100 mph threw debris onto roads and littered the city center ground with broken glass.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez confirmed three additional storm-related deaths in a social media post Friday evening. Earlier, authorities reported that at least four deaths were caused by the storm.

“We are in recovery mode,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said.

The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down Thursday evening near Cypress, about 30 miles northwest of Houston, with winds reaching 110 mph. It was also investigating reports of an unconfirmed tornado in Galena Park, about 11 miles east of downtown, NWS meteorologist Jeff Evans said Friday. “The majority of this damage is due to straight-line winds,” he said.

At least 4 dead in Texas storm

Mary Benton, a spokeswoman for the mayor, told USA TODAY that the Harris County medical examiner’s office will identify those killed and determine the cause of death.

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said Thursday that two of the deaths were caused by falling trees. Another person died in a crane accident.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Friday it would take time to assess the impacts of the storm, which she said knocked out power to 740,000 customers, mostly county residents by Harris.

“This type of wind is something we haven’t seen in Harris County since Hurricane Alicia in 1983,” she said.

Alicia, a Category 3 hurricane, swept through the state in August 1983, packing winds of up to 115 mph, according to the NWS. This caused more than $7 billion in damage.

Restoring power could take weeks in some areas, officials warn

Hidalgo said she signed a disaster declaration Friday morning and that Houston’s government was in contact with the White House.

HAS briefing On Friday afternoon, Hidalgo warned that restoring power could take weeks in some areas.

Most of the storm damage appears to be around Cypress, Hidalgo said. A helicopter scan of the affected area showed the destruction was not as extensive as hoped.

The storms come weeks after the Houston area faced flooding following a series of heavy rains and thunderstorms earlier this month. In late April, Groveton and Trinity X – two towns about 100 miles north of Houston – received 10 and 9 inches of rain, respectively.

Abbott issued a disaster proclamation late last month in response to severe storms that hit the state a few weeks ago with flooding, hail and dangerous winds. In a letter Tuesday, he asked President Joe Biden to declare a major disaster for the state.

As of Friday morning, debris had been cleared from highways but was still scattered in some neighborhoods, Hidalgo said.

“The city center is a mess”

On Thursday evening, Whitmire urged residents to stay home due to dangerous road conditions. Widespread power outages also knocked out traffic lights across the city, posing traffic control risks for morning commuters. Whitmire said officials were also “concerned” about the dangers of broken glass on the roads.

“The city center is a mess. It’s dangerous because of the glass and the lack of traffic lights,” he said. “So stay home. I can’t stress this enough, say it enough.”

More:How are storms formed? Here’s what actually happens during severe weather.

Fire Chief Peña said the majority of emergency calls to the fire department were for downed wires and gas leaks. “If you smell gas inside your home, it could be potentially dangerous. So please call 911 if there is a smell of gas, but do so outside of that building,” did he declare.

More than 900 customers of utility company CenterPoint Energy lost their power, he said. It would take up to 48 hours for some residents to restore power. The company said on X that restoring full power would be a “multi-day restoration effort.”

More than 420,000 outages, or 20% of all power accounts, were reported in the Houston area as of Friday morning, according to USA TODAY’s National Power Outage Tracking System.

Houston Metro said Friday that shuttles would serve the Purple and Green train lines due to power outages and debris on the tracks. Morning commuters should expect travel delays.

Schools across the region closed their doors in response to the severe weather. Whitmire also asked downtown employers to allow their employees to work from home.

The risk of severe weather in Houston was marginal as of Friday morning, with cloudy skies and a few showers expected in the afternoon, according to the Weather Channel.

More:Four dead after violent storms hit Texas; Tornadoes and floods threaten southeastern United States

Storms bringing hail, rain and possible tornadoes to the Southeast

But the storm system is expected to bring severe thunderstorms and excessive precipitation to the lower Mississippi Valley and Alabama on Friday and through the weekend.

“If you like rain and storms, the next two days are for you,” the National Weather Service in Birmingham posted Friday morning on X. South Alabama, including Montgomery and Selma, could experience some tornadoes as the region is hit by hail and “damaging winds” of up to 60 mph.

As the storm moves east, northeast Texas and parts of Alabama and Florida could be inundated with up to 8 inches of rain, potentially triggering severe flooding, according to AccuWeather.

Through tonight, areas of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama could be at risk for flash flooding, the Weather Channel reported. Amid devastating winds Saturday, the region faces an isolated tornado threat.

“Gusty winds and hail” would be the main threats during strong storms expected to hit parts of southeast Mississippi, according to the weather service in Mobile.

Parts of Florida also experienced strong winds Friday morning — the South Coast, near Tallahassee, was hit with wind gusts of up to 70 mph, the weather service reported.

Further south, temperatures reached records at the start of the week. A heat index of 115 degrees in Key West on Wednesday tied the region’s all-time record, AccuWeather reported.

That same day, temperatures in Miami reached 96 degrees, just two degrees below their record for the month. The weather service warned that the city could see its heat index rise to “triple digits” over the weekend.

Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her by email at [email protected]. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.

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