Heavy Storms in Houston Cut Power, Delay Airline Flights
January 10, 2012, 10:05 AM ESTBy Brian K. Sullivan
(Updates with tornado in Texas City in third paragraph, latest power failure report in sixth.)
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Heavy thunderstorms struck the Houston area, knocking out power to thousands, grounding flights and dropping hail the size of ping-pong balls.
As much as 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) of rain may fall in isolated areas as the storms continue through the day, according to the National Weather Service in Dickinson, Texas.
A tornado touched down in Texas City, damaging the Mall of the Mainland, the Houston Chronicle reported. BP Plc shut a chemical unit at its Texas City plant because of the weather, according to a person familiar with the operations.
“We had 4 inches or so this morning and we are not quite done yet,” said Don Oettinger, a weather service meteorologist in Dickinson. He said the weather would be cool and dry by the end of the day.
The U.S. Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma reported roofs were blown off buildings, two tractor-trailer trucks were knocked over and ping-pong-ball-sized hail fell in Wharton County, Texas.
CenterPoint Energy said 7,792 customers were without power as of 2:46 p.m. local time, down from 19,716 earlier.
Delays from 20 minutes to two hours were reported at George Bush Intercontinental Airport earlier today, according to the Houston Airport System website. At least 25 flights to and from the airport had been canceled as of 3:15 p.m., said FlightAware, a Houston-based airline flight tracking company.
The heavy rains aren’t enough to end the region’s drought, Oettinger said. The Houston area ended the year with about a 25- inch deficit in rain.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Oettinger said by telephone. “But it is not all that much help at this time of year.”
--With assistance from Aaron Clark in New York. Editors: Charlotte Porter, Richard Stubbe
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
