Storms dropped golf ball-sized hail on Texas, killing one person and knocking out power for more than one million residents.
Hurricane-force winds and hail pelted the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan areas on Tuesday afternoon. According to utility tracker PowerOutage.us, over 1 million consumers in the state were without power as of 3 p.m. local time.
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FlightAware reports that hundreds of aircraft, including those at Dallas-Fort Worth International, have experienced cancellations or delays.
Storms are likely to linger until early Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts might reach 75 mph in parts of southeastern Texas, and tornadoes are probable in southern Texas until 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, hail in the area might measure more than two inches in diameter, equivalent to a tennis ball or baseball. At such a size, hail can cause significant damage to parked cars and roof shingles.
Officials said the massive power disruptions could take many days to repair.
“We did have a significant number of downed lines because of this weather event,” Grant Cruise, a spokeswoman for electricity provider Oncor, said on Tuesday.
“In many cases, it’s not going to be simple repairs; we’re looking at complete reconstruction for parts of our area.”
The severe winds that damaged power lines and buildings on Tuesday morning drove American Airlines aircraft 737-800 away from its gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International.
As severe winds persisted, reports emerged of an overturned 18-wheeler truck and many car collisions on Texas roadways, according to local broadcaster WFAA.
In Magnolia County, a construction crew told KHOU that one of their coworkers is stuck under the wreckage of a home that fell during the storms. Two adjoining houses are also in ruins. Magnolia Fire Chief Adam Vulgamott told KHOU that officials were still actively searching as of 3 p.m. local time.
Texas is also holding a primary runoff poll on Tuesday. Voters will choose the final candidates for the November ballot.
After dozens of voting locations in the Dallas metro region lost electricity, officials decided to extend polls by two hours in the state’s runoff elections.
According to The Texas Tribune, the storms knocked out electricity to at least 76 voting booths across four counties.
“[The storm] kind of caught a lot of people on their way,” Nicholas Solorzano, communications manager for the Dallas County Elections Department, told the Tribune. “Unfortunately, many of our locations are still experiencing power outages, like schools and libraries.”
The storm arrived just a few days after the area was hit by a derecho, which is a widespread, long-lasting windstorm accompanied by a band of quickly moving showers or thunderstorms.
“Many folks have lost power again. “We just got through with derecho a couple weeks ago, which was extremely devastating and many are still trying to recover from,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Houston’s highest elected official, said in a video broadcast on social media late Tuesday.
The state reported multiple tornadoes over the weekend, with one passing through Cooke County on Saturday night, approximately 50 miles north of Dallas. The violent storms killed seven people just before Memorial Day.
Another 16 people were killed in the United States as a result of violent thunderstorms and tornadoes that swept through numerous states over the holiday weekend.
These storms also impacted Memorial Day travel, with hundreds of flights canceled or delayed across the country. Heavy rain also pummeled much of Interstate 95, the primary north-south expressway connecting the East Coast.
