HOUSTON– As the Houston area works to clean up and restore power to thousands of people after deadly storms, it will do so Saturday under a smog warning and as all of South Texas begins to feel the heat.
The National Weather Service in Houston warned that with temperatures reaching about 90 degrees (32.2 C) this weekend, people should know the symptoms of heat exhaustion. “Don’t overdo it during the cleaning process,” read a post on social platform X.
The mild weather is a concern in a region where more than 555,000 homes and businesses remained without power as of Friday night — down from nearly 1 million, according to PowerOutage.us. Severe thunderstorms on Thursday with winds of up to 100 mph blew out windows in the city center, while a tornado touched down near the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress.
At least four people died as the storms swept through Harris County, which includes Houston. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Friday that it could take “weeks” for power to be restored in some areas.
With several transmission towers down, Hidalgo asked for patience. Another 26,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, where high winds and a suspected tornado occurred, down from a peak of 215,000.
“We will have to talk about this disaster in weeks, not days,” Hidalgo said.
She said she heard “horror stories, just terror and helplessness” when the storm passed. The weather service also reported straight-line winds of up to 100 mph in the suburbs of Baytown and Galena Park.
The Houston Health Department said it would distribute 400 free portable air conditioners to area seniors, people with disabilities and caregivers of disabled children.
In addition to the heat, the Houston region was also warned about poor air quality over the weekend. While in the East, heavy rain was possible in eastern Louisiana and central Alabama, while parts of Louisiana were warned about the risk of flash flooding through Saturday.
Widespread destruction paralyzed much of Houston. Trees, rubble and broken glass littered the streets. The brick wall of a building was ripped out.
School districts in the Houston area canceled classes Friday for more than 400,000 students and government offices were closed. City officials asked people to avoid the city center and stay off roads, many of which were flooded or littered with downed power lines and faulty traffic lights.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire warned that police were out in force, including state troopers sent to the area to prevent looting. He said the speed and intensity of the storm caught many off guard.
“Most Houstonians didn’t have time to put themselves out of harm’s way,” Whitmire said at a news conference.
Noelle Delgado arrived Thursday night at Houston Pets Alive, the animal rescue organization where she is executive director, to find that the dogs and cats — more than 30 in total — were uninjured, but the awning had been ripped off, the sign was mangled and water was leaking inside. She hoped to find adoptive homes for the animals.
“I could definitely tell this storm was a little different,” she said. “It was scary.”
Yesenia Guzmán feared whether she would be paid due to the power outage at the restaurant where she works in the Houston suburb of Katy.
“We don’t really know what’s going to happen,” she said.
Whitmire signed the disaster declaration, which paves the way for state and federal storm recovery assistance. President Joe Biden also issued a disaster declaration for seven Texas counties, including Harris, regarding severe thunderstorms, direct winds, tornadoes and flooding since April 26.
Emergency officials in neighboring Montgomery County described the damage to power lines as “catastrophic.”
High-voltage transmission towers that were destroyed and downed power lines pose a double challenge for the utility because the damage affected transmission and distribution systems, according to Alexandria von Meier, an energy expert who called it rare. Damage to just the distribution system is more common, von Meier said.
How quickly repairs are made will depend on a variety of factors, including the time required to assess damage, replacement of equipment, access issues to roadworks and labor availability. Centerpoint Energy deployed 1,000 employees on Friday and requested an additional 5,000 line workers and vegetation professionals.
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Associated Press reporters Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
