HOUSTON -- Colder temperatures moved into southeast Texas Wednesday after severe weather pounded the Houston area with heavy rain and scattered tornadoes.

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Severe Storms Leave Trail Of Destruction

"With the cloud cover, it doesn't look like we're going to get out of the 50s and that wind is always what makes it a lot worse, so (it will be) breezy and cool the rest of the afternoon," Local 2 meteorologist Wes Hohenstein said.

Wednesday's high is forecast for 56 degrees, with a low of 40 overnight.

"Keep those sunglasses on standby. We may see a peek of sun. But I think we'll see more of it (on Thanksgiving)," Hohenstein said.

He said that temperatures have fallen 20 to 30 degrees compared to Tuesday.

"We hit 80 degrees (Tuesday)," he said. "That was a pretty decent cold front. But the storms are now history."

Hohenstein said Thanksgiving Day should have nice weather across Texas.

Thursday's high is forecast for 62 degrees, with 40 as the low. On Friday, temperatures will reach 70 degrees, with a low of 42. No rain is in the forecast until Saturday, when there's a small chance of rain, according to Hohenstein.

"I think we'll stay dry at least until very late Friday night, maybe a sprinkle or a light shower on Saturday morning, so stay warm," he said.

Clean Up Under Way For Storm Debris

The storms Tuesday night left a trail of debris throughout the Local 2 viewing area.

In downtown Houston, an uprooted tree fell onto a street and snapped a power line. It forced city officials to close the intersection at Jackson and Alabama.

"It was bad. It was raining hard and the wind was blowing the cars, shaking the cars," said Jose Ocampo, who lives nearby.

Also in downtown, Louisiana Street was shut down between Polk and Clay because of a shattered windowpane in a high-rise building that threatened to fall onto the street.

River Flooding Expected Friday In Wharton County

Officials in Wharton County asked that 2,500 people evacuate their homes near the Colorado River, which is expected to overflow its banks Friday.

"They came by, knocking on doors and stuff, and advising us to get out because they might not want to come in and get us if we don't evacuate," resident Cynthia Wromely told Local 2.

The National Weather Service predicted the river would crest at 45 feet Friday, which is just below the level that floods nearby homes, according to Matt Moreland, a weather service forecaster.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the river's level was just above 42.5 feet.

"If its gets above 45.3 feet, you'll get a couple feet of water in homes in the western part of Wharton," Moreland said.

County Judge John Murrile said most people had complied with the request to leave their homes but officials planned to have 10 boats in place to perform water rescues.

"We know we are going to have to go out and get some of these folks with boats because some of them won't leave," he said.

The American Red Cross has set up a temporary shelter at Wharton Junior High, 120 N. Rusk St.

Wharton Independent School District officials have canceled class at Dawson Elementary because of flood fears.

School district officials said if the river crests, the school would flood. They said the school has not flooded since 1998.

200,000 Customers Without Power At Storm's Peak

CenterPoint Energy said 29,000 customers were without power Wednesday at noon after reaching a peak outage of 200,000 during the height of the storm.

A company spokeswoman told Local 2 customers all across Houston were affected by the storms.

Extra work crews were called in Tuesday to work through the night to repair outages.

Mobile Home Blocks Highway; Tree Crashes Into Home

High winds tossed around a mobile home parked on the side of Highway 288 in south Houston.

The mobile home rolled over several times before finally stopping on the entrance ramp on Highway 288.

Roadblocks had to be set up for a couple of hours to clean the mess up.

Police said they do not know whom the home belongs to, but luckily, no one was inside.

Severe storms also caused a tree to crash down into Woodlands home, injuring two girls.

Police told Local 2 the girls were in their bedroom inside a mobile home on Smokey Oak and Wavy Oak when the tree fell through the roof of their room.

The girls were treated at the scene and are expected to be fine.

Officials said the home was severely damaged by the tree.

Reported Twister Kills 1, Injures 3 In Hardin County

Hardin County Sheriff's Department dispatcher Valerie Stewart said an elderly woman was killed and three people were injured when a tornado hit about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday near F.M. 92.

"Several trailers were wiped out," she said, adding there was "pretty extensive damage" throughout the northern part of the county. She wasn't aware of any other injuries.

Texas Department of Public Safety dispatcher Pat Cheshire identified the victim as Lola Crawford of Silsbee. Crawford was in her 70s, but her exact age was not immediately available.

Authorities in Hardin and neighboring East Texas counties said they were dealing with additional storms moving through the region Tuesday night as they tried to get a handle on the damage from the earlier wave of storms. At least six homes were destroyed in the region.

Hardin County Emergency Management spokeswoman Theresa Wigley said officials were having a difficult time reaching affected areas. Downed trees made some highways impassible in the heavily wooded county, which is home to a portion of the Big Thicket National Preserve.

Billy Ted Smith, the emergency management coordinator for Jasper, Newton and Sabine counties, said authorities believe three tornadoes hit the town of Kirbyville within minutes of one another. Stewart reported four tornadoes in Hardin County.

Smith said an emergency shelter was set up for those whose homes were destroyed. About two-dozen homes in the region were damaged in the storms and at least three were destroyed, he said.

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