On Friday, a weather official cautioned that some areas of Houston could undergo power outages for a few more weeks because severe thunderstorms with winds as strong as a hurricane swept the city. The thunderstorms have caused almost 1 million houses and companies to experience power failures and damaged property in the city, including vehicles.
It was also reported by CBS News, that the Mayor of Houston John Whitmire, has confirmed that at least four people were killed during the thunderstorms. Out of the four, two people died because of the trees falling on them and another fatality resulted because of a crane which was knocked over the person by the force of the wind.
The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado with winds peaking at 110 mph or 177 kph, which will hit the northwest suburb of Cypress in Harris County. The service requested that people stay at home and be safe. In a tweet, the Sheriff of Harris County shared that three more people have lost their lives due to the thunderstorms that are hitting the city.
Heartbreaking! My condolences go out to the families that lost a loved one during yesterday’s severe weather event: at about 6:36 pm, Mr. Martinez (57) was at the 12400 blk of Kilkenny Glenn Dr trying to move a downed electrical pole. Martinez collapsed, was transported to a
1/3— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) May 17, 2024
A man aged 57 died while moving an electrical pole that was hit by the wind, while a woman aged 85 died because lighting struck her trailer, which in turn caused fire. Also, a man aged 60 died while plugging his truck’s oxygen tank into the power switch.
The Mayor has also said that the county has faced a huge loss of windows in office buildings, and the streets of Houston are filled with glass all over the place. It has also been reported that the city is presently dealing with a lot of unanswered emergency calls. The majority of these calls are related to gas leaks and short-circuited wires.
Also, the schools in Houston were informed to be closed on Friday due to thunderstorms. The streets of the city were flooded, and trees across the region started to fall on the roads.
The utility tracker PowerOutage has reported that almost 1 million people across the region were without electricity on Thursday night. But till the evening of Friday, this estimate came down to 567,000 customers.
The Mayor of Houston urged people to be patient as the officials are working towards the power outage and look out for their neighbors. The work of restoring the power supply might take 24 to 48 hours to get back to its initial phase.
But, Lina Hidalgo, the Judge of Harris County, refuted this claim and stated that the restoration process would take much longer than the Mayor stated. She stated that they are going to talk about this in the coming weeks and not in the coming days.
Now, the Mayor has said that the speed of fixing the power supply depends on several factors, such as how long it takes to check all the problems and when the new equipment arrives.
The main problem is to ensure that we have enough workers to fix the issues across the county. The utility company Centerpoint Energy has sent 1000 of its workers to fix the issues related to the power outage caused by severe weather conditions. The Mayor has also requested that they send 5000 more workers who specialize in fixing power lines and managing vegetation so that the work can be done quickly.
An expert in power and utilities stated that the utility company is also facing a huge issue because the thunderstorms have broken down the high-voltage transmission towers, which have, in turn, affected the supply and distribution of electricity.
Since May 2024, the weather in Houston has been really tough. The region has been experiencing floods and high water levels since the first week. There has been water lodging in some areas where the residents needed to be rescued from their rooftops.
On Friday, President Joe Biden took notice of the situation and announced a major disaster in America. This means that the federal government will now step in and provide help to seven Southeast Texas countries that have been affected by thunderstorms, flooding, high-speed winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes since April 26, 2024.
