Texas City Warned of Glass on the Roads

Houston residents were warned not to drive in the downtown area because glass covered the streets after a severe storm blew out the windows of several buildings.

Texas has recently been struck by a wave of severe weather, including a deluge of rain that prompted a surge of flood warnings. Houston received up to 6 inches of rain in the first week of May, more than an inch above the area's average rainfall for the month. More rain fell on Thursday, accompanied by severe thunderstorms.

The severe storms and life-threatening floods hit eastern Texas, prompting the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Prediction Center to issue a high risk flood warning for parts of Texas and Louisiana. By Thursday night, the damage was so severe in some parts of Houston that weather experts warned people not to go there.

"Please do not drive in Downtown Houston tonight, or for that matter, anywhere else in the region that sustained storm damage," the NWS office in Houston posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Widespread debris, glass and electrical lines are in the streets. Follow local news media and emergency management officials recommendations."

Newsweek reached out to NWS Houston by phone for comment.

Videos showing the severity of the storm abounded on X. In one video, a house had collapsed. In others, strong winds whipped past trees, driving the rain sideways. Another video showed debris littering the streets of downtown Houston. The streets seemed to sparkle at times because they were covered in glass.

"Video from @lieggiji of glass covering downtown Houston from blown out windows after our powerful storm," ABC 13 reporter Pooja Lodhia posted on X.

KHOU reporter Jason Miles shared several videos depicting downtown buildings with their windows blown out.

"Wow. Windows blown out in the CenterPoint, Total Energies towers in downtown Houston.. Maybe others. Seeing trees and other debris on streets, some intersections blocked, traffic lights out," Miles posted.

In a follow-up post, Miles added that Enterprise Plaza and Wells Fargo Plaza also had blown out windows.

"There's lots of glass on the sidewalks, streets. This is Louisiana & Lamar. Reminds me of archival video I've seen from Hurricane Alicia in 1983," he said.

KPRC reporter Bryce Newberry said it was "hard to describe downtown Houston" following the storm's damage.

"There are mangled blinds, office supplies, insulation, and glass everywhere you look, after several skyscraper windows blew out during today's storm," he posted.

On Friday morning, some weather alerts remained in the Houston area, including a flood warning and a flood watch.