Houston distributes water as more than 300,000 remain without power after devastating storms

The city of Houston opened new distribution centers Saturday to distribute water as thousands of customers remained without power following severe storms that killed seven people in the region.

Houston reached a high of 91 degrees Saturday as the city and Harris County recover from tornadoes and 100 mph straight-line winds that struck without warning Thursday.

Seven deaths — four in Houston and three in unincorporated Harris County — were blamed on weather effects, including falling trees and a fire started by lighting.

More than 350,000 customers in Harris County, where Houston is located, were without power as of 3:30 a.m. local time Saturday, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. At its peak, nearly 800,000 homes and businesses were without power after the storm.

“Our crews’ visual inspections and assessments of damage to our infrastructure yesterday showed we have a lot of work to do in the coming days,” said Lynnae Wilson, senior vice president of the utility’s electrical business. of CenterPoint Energy, in a press release.

CenterPoint, the utility company responsible for the bulk of the outages, said Saturday evening that it estimated about 80% of its affected customers would have power restored by Sunday evening.

Three schools were damaged, one by a tree that fell into a classroom, another with about 12 broken windows and one whose wall collapsed into a classroom, the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District said Saturday , Mike Miles.

Miles called the relatively low number of damaged buildings throughout the district a “blessing.” A decision will be made Sunday on whether there will be school Monday, and a lot will depend on the power situation, he said.

“Today and tomorrow will say a lot about the power in these schools,” Miles said.

About 90 of the district’s 270 schools have no electricity, he said.

Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo said in a video message Saturday evening that residents affected by storms or flooding in recent weeks could apply for federal aid in the form of personal and small business loans.

Houston faces another hot day ahead, with temperatures in the 80s to low 90s heading into next week.

“If you’re without power, and even if you’re not… make sure you practice thermal safety by staying hydrated, take frequent breaks if you’re working outside, and look before you lock up!” said the National Weather Service during a discussion of the forecast.

Elsewhere in the country, storms and bad weather are a concern.

The central and northern Plains are expected to experience storms starting Sunday, affecting about 2 million people in Kansas, southern Nebraska and northern Oklahoma. The cities of Wichita and Topeka, Kansas, were among those that could experience large hail and damaging winds.