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

Authorities urged residents to stay off the roads after Thursday’s storms, as many roads were impassable and traffic lights were out. The storm system moved in quickly, but flood watches and warnings remained Friday for Houston and areas to the east.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire said four people died due to the severe weather. At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another occurred when a crane toppled over in high winds, authorities said.

Streets in Houston were flooded and trees and power lines were down throughout the area. 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.

“Stay home tonight. Do not go to work tomorrow unless you are an essential worker. Stay home, take care of your children,” Whitmire said during a briefing Thursday evening. “Our first responders will be working 24 hours a day.”

Gulf Coast states could experience scattered, severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. Heavy to excessive rain is possible Friday from eastern Louisiana to central Alabama, the National Weather Service said.

In Houston, hundreds of windows were broken in downtown hotels and office buildings, with glass littering the streets below, and the state sent Department of Public Safety agents to secure the area.

“Downtown is a mess,” Whitmire said, adding that there was a backlog of 911 calls that first responders were working on.

The severe storms also spread to neighboring Louisiana and left more than 215,000 customers without power. More than 100,000 Entergy Louisiana customers in the New Orleans area lost power, NOLA.com reported.

The weather forecast office in New Orleans and Baton Rouge has issued a flash flood warning through Saturday.

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.

The Houston Independent School District canceled classes Friday for some 400,000 students across all of its 274 campuses.

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

According to poweroutage.us, about 900,000 customers were without power in and around Harris County, which includes Houston. The county is home to more than 4.7 million residents.

CenterPoint Energy warned 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.

Baumann reported from Bellingham, Washington, and Weber from Los Angeles.