Houston, We Have A Problem. 4 Dead After City Pummeled By One Of U.S.'s Most Expensive Thunderstorms

 This had to be one of the worst-aimed intense thunderstorm I've ever seem.

Screen grab from KHOU news video shows 
numerous windows blown out of Houston high 
rises after Thursday's intense storms,

An extreme thunderstorm packing winds of up to 100 mph blasted straight through Houston Thursday evening, killing at least four people. Countless windows blew out of downtown skyscrapers, showering streets with glass and debris. 

The four deaths reported so far are obviously tragic, but I'm pleasantly surprised we haven't heard of more so far. This hit one of the most highly populated areas in the United States. That gave the potential for a lot of casualties. 

Power was out to nearly a million homes and businesses in the metro region.  Walls caved in, high tension electrical towers toppled and many streets were blocked by fallen trees and wires. 

Mayor John Whitmire urged people to stay home today while power lines and debris is cleared. Schools are closed, and power companies say it will take days or a week or even more to restore all power.

I worry about more deaths and injuries in the coming days in Houston. Not from more storms, but the aftermath.  People are always getting hurt chain sawing trees or even killed coming in contact with live wires.

Additionally, it's going to be hot and humid in Houston through at least the next seven days. Those with health issues with no air conditioning because of a lack of power could succumb to heat stress,

Houston was under a tornado warning as the storm approached and there might have been one or more tornadoes embedded in this mess. But it appears most of the damage was caused by a wall of straight line winds that tore through the city. 

The city is the nation's fourth largest with 2.3 million people. The entire metro area has about 7 million residents. With so many targets for the storm to hit, damage will be extreme, with a good potential for this to be another $1 billion disaster.

This will become one of the nation's most expensive thunderstorms.  That honor currently goes to an extreme derecho that hit Iowa in August, 2020, with damage estimated at around $11 billion.

The Gulf Coast states have been plagued by storms this week that are inflicting the type of damage hurricanes usually do, although the destruction isn't quite as widespread as hurricanes typically cause. 

Cities like Lake Charles and Slidell, Louisiana and Tallahassee, Florida have suffered big wind and tornado damage.

Record flooding hit some rivers in eastern Texas earlier this spring. That flooding was renewed by torrential rains yesterday. 

Meanwhile, predictions are for an intense hurricane season later this summer and autumn. If any of those hurricanes target the Gulf Coast, they would compound the damage suffered this spring.