Power outages spread across storm-weary Texas on Wednesday and may last until the weekend following severe weather that flooded streets in Houston and caused roof damage in Dallas, resulting in the tragic death of a teenager and injuries to others.
The teenager lost his life on Tuesday at a construction site where a home collapsed, while three individuals at a campground were electrocuted by a fallen power line. The extreme weather left over a million homes and businesses without power at one point.
Oncor, the electric utility company, anticipated restoring power to most customers in the Dallas area by Friday, with some outages persisting into the weekend. As of Wednesday morning, over half of the 650,000 affected customers in north Texas had their power restored.
In Houston, which had already been hit by a recent storm that claimed eight lives, a 16-year-old construction worker lost his life in Magnolia, a suburb northeast of the city. A 6-year-old boy and two others were critically injured by the same downed power line at a campground north of Houston.
Authorities in Montgomery County are investigating how the individuals were shocked by the power line. Meanwhile, severe weather conditions are forecasted to continue through Oklahoma and Texas, with the potential for heavy rains and localized flooding.
The damaging storms also affected the Dallas area’s runoff elections, prompting officials to extend voting hours due to power outages at polling places. Additional flight cancellations occurred at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where strong winds caused disruptions.
The National Weather Service warned of ongoing severe weather in the central U.S., following destructive storms over the Memorial Day weekend that resulted in 24 fatalities across seven states.
Weather
At least 22 dead amid severe Memorial Day storms across multiple states
6:42 AM, May 27, 2024
