Photo: Click2Houston
The storms that came through the Houston area last night have left at least four people dead. Two of them were killed by trees that hit homes. Another person was killed in a crane accident.
At one point, more than 900,000 CenterPoint customers were in the dark. That number remains at 700,000 plus. It could take days or even weeks to get some of the power turned back on, according to officials.
CenterPoint tells KTRH that, "There has been damage to several of our facilities in our Houston-area service territory. Our crews are assessing damage and we can confirm we’ve experienced significant damage to our system. We are committed to restoring power to our customers as safely and as quickly as possible."
In a statement mid-morning, CenterPoint said full restoration could take “several days or longer.”
We should also find out later today if there was a tornado that touched down in the area. A funnel cloud was spotted last night, but the National Weather Service won't confirm that until they see the damage for themselves.
Governor Greg Abbott also reacted to the storms in a statement, saying,
"Our hearts are with the families and loved ones of those who tragically lost their lives due to severe weather in Southeast Texas, and we remain in contact with local officials to do everything we can to protect Texans and help our communities recover,” said Governor Abbott. “As severe weather sweeps through the Southeast region of the state, Texas continues to deploy resources and assistance to impacted communities to ensure the safety of Texans. Last month, I prepared state emergency response resources and issued a disaster declaration. I have since amended that declaration to ensure every community threatened by dangerous weather conditions would have access to necessary resources. The Texas Division of Emergency Management continues to support impacted communities with immediate and long-term recovery resource needs. The Public Utility Commission of Texas is coordinating with utility providers to restore power to affected areas as quickly as possible. I encourage Texans who sustained storm damage to report it online at damage.tdem.texas.gov when it is safe to do so. I thank the emergency response personnel who are working around-the-clock to protect their fellow Texans as we respond to this severe weather event."