(Houston) Four people died Thursday in Houston, the fourth most populous city in the United States, during an “exceptional storm” that caused significant property damage, massive power outages and falling trees. , announced the mayor.
“Unfortunately, we have four deaths,” John Whitmire, the mayor of this Texas city, said in an interview with local television station Fox 26.
Although the circumstances of these deaths are not yet known, they could be “mainly due to falling trees or people trapped in their cars,” Mr. Whitmire said.
PHOTO DAVID J. PHILLIP, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A car crushed by bricks in Houston.
“We suffered significant damage to office buildings downtown, which lost their windows. […] More than 800,000 families are without electricity,” he added, describing this storm as “exceptional”.
Schools in this city of 2.4 million inhabitants will be closed on Friday.
Images broadcast by local television channels and on social networks show how under the power of the wind gusts, which reached up to 160 km/h, trees and electrical poles fell and windows of buildings were shattered.