Storms kill at least 4 people in Houston and cut power in Texas and Louisiana

Fast-moving thunderstorms hit southeast Texas on Thursday for the second time this month and left at least four dead, shattered windows in skyscrapers, downed trees and left some 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area without power.

Authorities asked people not to go out on the roads, as many were impassable and traffic lights were expected to be out of commission for most of the night.

“Stay home tonight, don’t go to work tomorrow, unless you are an essential worker. Stay home, take care of your kids,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at a late-night press conference. “Our emergency teams will be working 24 hours a day.”

According to the mayor, four people died due to bad weather. At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another occurred when strong winds toppled a crane, officials said.

Streets were flooded and trees and power lines were down throughout the region. Winds reached 100 mph (160 kilometers/hour), “with some tornadoes,” said Whitmire, who noted that the strongest gusts were reminiscent of Hurricane Ike that hit the city in 2008.

Hundreds of windows of hotels and office buildings in the city center were shattered and their remains littered the streets, prompting the state government to mobilize agents from the Department of Public Safety to guard the area.

“Downtown is in chaos,” Whitmire said. The 911 emergency phone line was down and emergency crews were working to respond, he added.

At Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros’ stadium, the storm forced the retractable roof to close, but the wind was so powerful that the rain still came in. Puddles could be seen in the outfield area during the game against the Oakland Athletics.

The Houston Independent School District canceled Friday classes for about 400,000 students at its 274 centers.

Although the storm system was moving quickly, flood watches and warnings remained active in Houston and other areas to the east. In the neighboring state of Louisiana, powerful storms left more than 215,000 people without power.

Houston’s two main airports temporarily suspended flights.

About 900,000 customers were without power in Harris County — where Houston is located — and its surrounding areas, according to poweroutage.us. The county has more than 4.7 million inhabitants.

The problems also affected the city’s suburbs and emergency crews from neighboring Montgomery County described the damage to power lines as “catastrophic,” in addition to warning that service could be affected for days.

The region had already suffered strong storms in the first week of May.

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