Last night the city of Houston was absolutely thrashed by a ferocious storm that brought winds in excess of 100 mph and spawned tornadoes.

It’s being reported this morning that at least four people are dead, primarily from wind causing objects to fall on them.

Around 900,000 people were without power last night and this morning that number has been reduced to nearly 700,000.

Below is a video montage showing the damage:

 
Here’s more from Newsmax:

Fast-moving thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas for the second time this month, killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area.

Officials urged residents to keep off roads following Thursday’s storms, as many were impassable and traffic lights were out. The storm system moved through swiftly, but flood watches and warnings remained Friday for Houston and areas to the east.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire said four people died during the severe weather. At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another happened when a crane blew over in strong winds, officials said.

Houston’s streets were flooded and trees and power lines were down across the region. Whitmire said wind speeds reached 100 mph (160 kph) “with some twisters.” Whitmire said the powerful gusts were reminiscent of 2008’s Hurricane Ike, which pounded the city.

“Stay at home tonight. Do not go to work tomorrow, unless you’re an essential worker. Stay home, take care of your children,” Whitmire said in a Thursday evening briefing. “Our first responders will be working around the clock.”

Gulf Coast states could experience scattered, severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. Heavy to excessive rainfall is possible for eastern Louisiana into central Alabama on Friday, the National Weather Service said.

In Houston, hundreds of windows were shattered at downtown hotels and office buildings, with glass littering the streets below, and the state was sending Department of Public Safety officers to secure the area.

“Downtown is a mess,” Whitmire said, adding that there was a backlog of 911 calls first responders were working through.

The ferocious storms also moved into neighboring Louisiana and left more than 215,000 customers without power. More than 100,000 Entergy Louisiana customers in the New Orleans area lost power, NOLA.com reported.

The Storm Prediction Center’s website showed a report of a tornado in Convent, Louisiana, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) from New Orleans, with multiple reports of trees and power poles down.

School districts across the Houston area canceled classes Friday for more than 400,000 students.

Flights were briefly grounded at Houston’s two major airports. Sustained winds topping 60 mph (96 kph) were recorded at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

About 900,000 customers were without electricity in and around Harris County, which contains Houston, according to poweroutage.us. The county is home to more than 4.7 million people.

CenterPoint Energy warned customers to “be prepared for extended weather-related power outages.”

I’ve read elsewhere that the winds exceeded 120 mph near the top floors of skyscrapers in downtown Houston. I don’t think I’ve ever seen high voltage powerline towers destroyed like this before. It’s gonna take them a while to recover from this.