CBS News
Storms slam Houston yet again as more than 1 million customers without power in Texas
Severe thunderstorms blew out windows in high-rise buildings, downed trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Houston area Thursday as Southeast Texas got pummeled for the second time this month.
Flash flood and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for multiple counties, with damaging winds and even tornadoes possible into the evening, said Houston’s National Weather Service office.
“Take shelter now if you’re in the path of this storm. Head to the lowest floor!” the NWS office warned on social media.
Streets were flooded and trees were down across the region. CBS affiliate KHOU-TV showed images of shattered windows on an office building in downtown Houston, with glass littering the street below. Video posted to social media showed a downtown street covered in debris.
Video also appeared to show water being blown into Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros, despite the stadium’s roof being closed.
Flights were grounded at Houston’s two major airports because of the weather. Sustained winds topping 60 mph were recorded at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
In total, just over one million customers were without power in Texas as of Thursday evening, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
Of that, more than 842,000 customers were without electricity in and around Harris County, which contains Houston. The county is home to more than 4.7 million people.
“Please avoid the roadways if possible, but if you’re out, please use caution and be on the lookout for debris,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote on social media. Gonzalez shared an image of vehicles attempting to traverse around a massive tree that had come crashing down into an intersection.
The Houston Independent School District announced all schools would be closed Friday.
Heavy storms slammed the region during the first week of May, leading to numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes.
CBS News
“Portrait of a person who’s not there”: Documenting the bedrooms of school shooting victims
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Russia on Sunday launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, described by officials as the largest over the past months, targeting energy infrastructure and killing civilians.
The attack came as fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine’s power generation capacity ahead of the cold winter.
Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack across Ukraine. Various types of drones were deployed, he said, including Iranian-made Shaheds as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian defenses shot down 140 air targets, Zelenskyy said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
“The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone attack, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children,” Zelenskyy said.
Two others were killed in the Odesa region, where the attack damaged energy infrastructure and disrupted power and water supplies, said local Gov. Oleh Kiper.
OLEKSANDR GIMANOV/AFP via Getty Images
The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, according to the head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration Serhii Popko.
Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts. Ukrainian officials have routinely urged Western allies to bolster the country’s air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs.
Explosions were heard across Ukraine on Sunday, including in the capital Kyiv, the key southern port of Odesa, as well as the country’s west and central regions, according to local reports.
The operational command of Poland’s armed forces wrote on X that Polish and allied aircraft, including fighter jets, have been mobilized in Polish airspace because of the “massive” Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine. The steps were aimed at providing safety in Poland’s border areas, it said.
One person was injured after the roof of a five-story residential building caught fire in Kyiv’s historic center, according to Popko.
A thermal power plant operated by private energy company DTEK was “seriously damaged,” the company said.