Severe storms kill at least 4 in Houston, cut power in Texas and Louisiana

HOUSTON (AP) — Power outages could last for weeks in parts of Houston after thunderstorms accompanied by hurricane-force winds ravaged the city and knocked out power to nearly a million homes and businesses.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Friday that there have been casualties, but “we don’t know the latest numbers.” However, earlier, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said four people were killed after storms swept through Harris County, which includes Houston, on Thursday. Officials warned residents that cleanup would be slow and some residents should prepare to be without power for days or else. longer.

“We’re going to have to talk about this disaster in weeks, not days,” said Hidalgo, the county’s top elected official.

Widespread destruction paralyzed much of Houston as crews raced to restore power and remove uprooted trees and debris. Houston-area school districts canceled classes 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 lined with downed power lines and malfunctioning traffic lights.

Whitmire called downtown a “mess” and told people not to go to work Friday unless they were considered essential workers.

“Stay home, take care of your children,” Whitmire said during a briefing Thursday evening. “Our first responders will be working 24 hours a day.”

At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another occurred when a crane toppled over in high winds, authorities said. Whitmire said wind speeds reached 100 mph (160 km/h) “with a few tornadoes.” Whitmire said the powerful gusts were reminiscent of 2008’s Hurricane Ike, which hit the city.

Hundreds of windows were smashed in downtown hotels and office buildings, and glass littered the streets below. Fallen trees, power lines and broken glass made some areas impassable, the city said. The state was sending agents from the Department of Public Safety to secure the area.

The storms were not over Friday. Gulf Coast states could experience scattered, severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. Heavy to excessive rain is possible from eastern Louisiana to central Alabama, the National Weather Service said. Flood watches and warnings remained Friday for Houston and areas east.

The powerful storms also hit neighboring Louisiana on Thursday and left more than 215,000 customers without power at their peak. More than 100,000 Entergy Louisiana customers in the New Orleans area lost power, NOLA.com reported.

The Storm Prediction Center website posted a report of a tornado in Convent, Louisiana, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) from New Orleans, with several reports of downed trees and utility poles.

A suspected tornado struck the Romeville area of ​​St. James Parish Thursday evening, impacting some homes and downing trees, but no injuries or deaths were reported, parish officials said in a post on social networks Friday morning.

There were wind gusts of 84 mph (135 kph) at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and 82 mph (132 kph) at New Orleans Lakefront Airport, according to Tim Erickson, meteorologist with the weather service office in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

The New Orleans and Baton Rouge office issued a flash flood warning through Saturday.

Back in Houston, at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, the retractable roof was closed due to the storm. But the wind was so strong that it still pushed rain into the stadium. Puddles formed on the outfield warning track, but the game against the Oakland Athletics was still played.

Flights were briefly grounded at Houston’s two main airports. Sustained winds exceeding 96 km/h were recorded at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Power outage numbers were slowly improving Friday morning, to about 786,000 in Texas and 121,000 in Louisiana, according to Poweroutage.us. At one point, Texas experienced more than 900,000 outages.

CenterPoint Energy warned Houston-area customers to “prepare for extended weather-related power outages.”

The problems spread to the city’s suburbs, with emergency officials in neighboring Montgomery County calling damage to transmission lines “catastrophic” and warning that power could be affected for several days.

Severe storms hit the Houston area during the first week of May, leading to many water rescues, including some from the roofs of flooded homes.

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The story has been updated to correct that Houston area school districts canceled classes Friday, not just the Houston Independent School District.

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Baumann reported from Bellingham, Washington, and Weber from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Sarah Brumfield in Silver City, Maryland, and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this story.

David J. Phillip, Lisa Baumann and Christopher Weber, Associated Press