A severe storm packing hurricane-force winds pummeled the Houston-area on Thursday (May 16), killing at least four people, blowing windows out of high-rise buildings and leaving some 800,000 homes without power as much of the area was plunged into darkness, Reuters reports.
In Katy, Texas, a town just west of Houston, muddy brown water swamped a residential neighborhood and trees swayed furiously in hurricane-force winds.
Some residents in Houston packed into a Costco grocery store to take shelter from the storm. Store workers brought down shutters and were heard asking customers to move to the center to the store.
The killer storm system also battered Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states, leaving them without power on Friday morning.