On This Date: Derecho Roars Through Houston One Year Ago With Winds Up To 100 MPH
Houston was hit by a long-lived derecho that swept across the Gulf Coast states one year ago on May 16, contributing to widespread wind damage and knocking out power to about a million homes and businesses.
Wind gusts were estimated to have hit 80 to 100 mph in Houston, knocking out windows in high-rise buildings on the western side of downtown, downing trees and damaging roofs and other structures. The squall line then spread destructive winds from southern Louisiana to as far east as coastal southern Alabama and a small part of the Florida Panhandle.
Power outages lasted for days in the Houston metro, leaving many without air conditioning amid high temperatures ranging from the upper 80s to mid-90s in the days afterwards. There were 87 heat-related illness incidents reported in the city by the Houston Health Department.
Broken glass from skyscrapers caused streets in portions of downtown Houston to be closed for a week, according to the National Weather Service.
At least 8 people were killed by the derecho, which also caused $1.2 billion damage, NOAA said.
To make matters worse, Houston was hit by damaging winds from Hurricane Beryl less than two months later.
Chris Dolce has been a senior digital meteorologist with weather.com for nearly 15 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.
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