“This type of wind is something we haven’t seen in Harris County since Hurricane Alicia in 1983,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county government’s top executive, said at a news conference Friday.
Hurricane Alicia was a small hurricane, but it was a Category 3 when it made landfall near San Luis Pass on Aug. 18, 1983. It killed 21 people, according to the meteorological serviceand the total damage and its effects amounted to more than $3 billion.
The three deaths in unincorporated Harris County announced Friday included a man who collapsed while trying to move a downed power pole; a woman who was found dead in a trailer after lightning struck it and caused a fire; and a man who was found dead after going to his truck to turn on an oxygen tank after the power went out.
Two of the four people who died in Houston were killed by falling trees, a third died when a crane toppled over and the circumstances of the fourth were not detailed in a briefing.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said the city experienced “an exceptionally strong storm.”
Both he and Hidalgo signed disaster declarations following the storms. Declarations allow additional authority and help.
“Houstonians, stay home tonight. The recovery will continue through tomorrow,” Whitmire said Friday. He compared the winds to Hurricane Ike that hit the country in 2008 and said there was “considerable damage downtown.”
CenterPoint Energia said in a statement that outages caused by the storm peaked at about 922,000 customers. There were around 574,000 customers without power around 7pm on Friday, according to your website.
Restoration in the hardest-hit areas could take days, the utility said.
Windows were destroyed in buildings in downtown Houston. Trees fell on houses and the winds destroyed parts of houses in other parts of the city. A roof over the gas station pumps was thrown to the ground, taking the supports with it.
Kathleen Cox was at home folding laundry and knew a storm was coming. She doesn’t hear very well, but she thought she heard something and went to investigate.
“I just saw the tree at the house,” Cox said, pointing to the tree still leaning against his house on Friday. “Oh, honey, I don’t need anything else in my life right now.”
“It wasn’t like that during any of the hurricanes,” Cox said. “You know, trees were knocked down, but never completely uprooted like that.”
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