Four dead after strong, fast-moving storms hit Houston

May 17 (UPI) — Four people died after strong storms hit the Houston area Thursday, officials said as they warned the public to stay home.

Storms with winds reaching 100 mph slammed the Texas city Thursday, causing widespread damage, officials said at a news conference.

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Mayor John Whitmire of Houston asked the public to stay home Thursday night and Friday while only essential workers are required to report to work. Schools would also be closed.

“Stay home tonight,” he said. “If you’re not an essential worker, don’t go to work tomorrow.”

The public is being asked to avoid the city center, which officials say suffered considerable damage from the storm.

“Please do not drive in downtown Houston tonight, or anywhere else in the area that experienced storm damage,” National Weather Service Houston echoed in an online statement Thursday evening.

“Debris, glass and power lines are strewn across the streets.”

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said two of the deaths were due to falling trees and a third was related to a crane incident. The cause of the fourth death has not been announced.

According to poweroutage.us, the fast-moving storms knocked out power to nearly a million customers, with Whitmire saying it would take 24 hours to get most customers back online, while others would be without power for two days .

“We are responding to a large number of power outages caused by severe weather in parts of our service area,” CenterPoint Energy said in a statement. “Please prepare for extended weather-related power outages and possible delays in some outage notifications.”