HOUSTON – A severe line of storms brought rain and lightning across the Houston area, creating havoc with Friday rush-hour traffic and knocking out power to more than 100,000 customers at one point.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were also issued earlier Friday evening in multiple counties.
The storms brought rain and slick roads up in The Woodlands. We're hearing reports of trees down in Montgomery County. The National Weather Service says trees and branches were down around The Woodlands Mall area and Research Park Drive.
A trained storm spotter said the winds at FM 518 and Cullen in Pearland reached speeds of 50 to 70 mile per hour. The strong winds snapped the power poles and left electrical lines sagging.
All up and down the streets in Pearland and on Cullen, south of Beltway 8, the traffic lights were out. At least one traffic sign was left dangling from the pole.
Tree limbs covered the parking lot at a strip mall. Business after business had to temporarily close until the power came back on, as the storms passed.
At around 7 p.m., more than 102,000 customers were out of power, according to CenterPoint Energy, but that number has slowly been dwindling.
A flood advisory was also issued earlier Friday evening for parts of our viewing area.
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