Severe storms with hurricane-force winds cause widespread damage, power outages around Houston

Rain and debris poured into the lobby of the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Houston.

HOUSTON – A storm system that threatened to bring torrential rain to East Texas brought severe thunderstorms to the nation’s fourth-largest city on Thursday, causing at least four deaths and leaving more than a million customers without power.

The local National Weather Service office issued several tornado warnings for metro Houston, but by the time the storms dissipated, it was high winds that were believed to have caused most of the damage. Winds estimated at more than 70 mph toppled trees, blew out windows of high-rise buildings and caused transmission towers that held up power lines to collapse.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office encouraged everyone to stay off the roads as trees blocked streets, with power outages topping 800,000 in metro Houston.

PowertOuage.us reported that neighboring counties were also experiencing outages, sending the state’s tally to more than 1 million customers.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire told FOX 26 Houston that at least four people were killed by the storm.

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“The roof of the downtown Hyatt Regency exploded. Rain and debris poured into the lobby,” a hotel guest told FOX Weather.

He said staff were doing their best to keep people safe and away from debris.

Windows also appear to have exploded in other downtown buildings, including around the Wells Fargo Plaza.

At nearby Minute Maid Park, wind and water were observed seeping into the building, but the extreme weather did not appear to affect the progress of the Astros baseball game.

Rain and wind blow before the game between the Houston Astros and the Oakland Athletics at Minute Maid Park on May 16, 2024 in Houston, Texas.

(Logan Riely/Getty Images)

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Local residents described the storm’s impacts as hurricane-like, despite severe weather conditions lasting less than an hour.

Ground stops were also made at Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston due to severe weather conditions.

The Houston school district closed all public schools Friday and announced they would reopen Monday.

Dangerous thunderstorms were expected to develop into a flooding threat overnight as already saturated areas were expected to receive an additional 2 to 5 inches of rain.