More than 1 million Texans are without power as severe storms slammed the Houston area Thursday night.
The heavy rains and powerful storms also flooded streets and busted windows and glass on downtown buildings.
Mayor John Whitmere urged those in his city to stay home and off the roads.
« Many roads are impassible due to downed power lines, debris, and fallen trees, » the mayor’s statement said. He also touched on the « significant » power outages and reports of damage in the area.
In Harris County, where Houston is, nearly 850,000 homes and business were without power about 8:30 p.m. CT, according to poweroutage.us.
The National Weather Service was expecting three to 6 inches of rain to fall, with higher totals possible in some areas. A flood watch was in place through Friday morning.
The National Weather Service out of Houston warned that tornadoes were possible as « severe storms continue to roll across our coastal counties. » The agency issued a tornado watch for parts of Texas, including Houston, and Louisiana that is in effect until 10 p.m. CT.
Flood warnings for parts of southern Texas are in effect until Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service, covering parts of Harris County, as well as cities such as Austin, Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Houston, Madison, Montgomery, Northern Liberty, Polk, San Jacinto, Southern Liberty, Trinity, Walker, Waller and Washington.
Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia took to social media to urge his crews to « stay in place » as « many limbs are down making roads unsafe. » He added that his teams were on standby to begin removing debris « once winds diminish. »
Photos and videos on social media show intense flooding and downed trees across Houston, as well as toppled electrical towers and power lines.
In one video posted to Facebook, rain is seen leaking into Minute Maid Park, where the Houston Astros play. Another video showed hordes of baseball fans leaving the stadium amid the bad weather.
Winds in the area were so strong they appeared to blow off roof panels at a Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston, another video posted to social media shows.
And the windows of a building in the Wells Fargo Plaza in Houston appear to have been blown out as a result of the storms, according to a post on X.
