A storm ripped through southeast Texas on May 16, flooding communities around Houston, killing at least four people, interrupting power for residents in Texas and Louisiana, and leading to the cancellation of classes for 400,000 students in Houston.
The storm included tornados and winds upwards of 100 mph, similar to Hurricane Ike in 2008, which was one of the country’s costliest natural disasters, according to a briefing from Houston Mayor John Whitmire. Rainfall reached three to six inches north of Houston, with 6.9 inches reported near Romayor.
As the storm travels east, a local branch of the National Weather Service urged New Orleans residents to “TAKE COVER NOW!” as 70 mph winds could batter the city throughout the day.
After sunset, the storm inflicted considerable damage throughout southeast Texas, shattering windows and flooding Houston. When surveying the area on May 17, emergency crews found the streets filled with broken glass, torn electrical lines, and other debris from the storm.
“I know that many people lived through, and are still living through, scary situations with the terrible strong winds that blew across our county tonight,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement.
“Damage assessments are ongoing, and we cannot know how long it will take to clear debris without those assessments completed, but from initial reports the debris looks very significant,” she added.
Ms. Hidalgo said that until officials “fully understand the magnitude of this incident, all cards are on the table to ensure we recover as quickly as possible.”
School administrators canceled classes for 400,000 students across 274 schools in Houston’s Independent School District. Local officials urged all workers, short of essential employees, to work remotely if possible.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña explained in a news briefing two of the four deaths came from falling trees, while a third perished after a crane toppled over. Details on the fourth death are still unknown.
Power outages initially affected more than 900,000 local customers, but the number has dropped to roughly 700,000 since, according to poweroutage.us. Most affected residents are from Harris County, and officials are concerned that rising heat and humidity through the weekend could lead to heat illness if providers do not quickly restore power.
Due to the dangerous debris throughout Houston’s streets, Mr. Whitmire urged residents to stay at home and avoid roadways while firefighters remove downed power lines.
“Stay at home. Do not travel on the roads. It’s dark; there’s trees across roadways,” he said.
“So be very patient, cautious, look out for one another, stay at home tonight, don’t go to work tomorrow unless you’re an essential worker.”
In addition to Houston and parts of Harris County, officials issued flood watch and warning alerts for cities such as Washington, Waller, Walker, Trinity, southern Liberty, San Jacinto, Polk, northern Liberty, Montgomery, Madison, Grimes, Burleson, Brazos, and Austin.
Once the storm reached Louisiana, it initially cut power to roughly 215,000 residents, but by 9:30 a.m. on May 17, the number had dropped to 65,000.
Officials extended flood warnings east of Louisiana into Mississippi, Alabama, and portions of Florida’s Panhandle. The storm could affect another 7 million people throughout this region heading into the weekend.
Another three to six inches of rain, quarter-size hail, and tornados could hit this area as “severe storms continue to roll across our coastal counties,” according to The National Weather Service.
Currently, Houston has already experienced the bulk of the storm’s brunt, with photos and videos inundating social media of heavy flooding, downed trees, and destroyed electrical towers and power lines.
Meteorologists expect roughly 9 million people across the southeast United States to feel the storm’s impact on May 18, with strong winds and potentially isolated tornados hitting cities like Tallahassee, Charleston, and Wilmington.
