Friday, December 21, 2012

Strong winds cause exploding transformers, power outages around Houston area

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The strong winds overnight led to exploding transformers and power outages across town.

We caught several explosions from our Tower Cam HD above the ABC13 studios in southwest Houston. You'll need to watch out for intersections that do not have lights because of power outages.

CenterPoint Energy reports just under 14,000 homes and businesses are without power as of 9:45am. That's down from a peak of close to 61,000 at around 3am.

Those outages are scattered from southeast Houston to The Woodlands.

Meteorologist Casey Curry says wind advisories are posted across our area today. Look for widespread 40-50mph wind gusts. One wind gust was clocked in at 61 miles per hour at around 3:45 this morning in Bayou Vista.

Be careful on the roads this morning as you may run into road debris throughout your morning drive.

Some ABC13 viewers have sent us photos of the power outages and wind damage across the area. We've seen tree branches in the Heights near the North Freeway and North Main, as well as a downed tree in a neighborhood off Beechnut in southwest Harris County.

You can send your photos to news@abc13.com, but please don't put yourself in harm's way to get the shot.

Many of you are also talking about the outages from the wind on Twitter and Facebook. One of our viewers writes that electricity went out at around 4:30am in Spring. Another says the power remains out in Magnolia. There are also reports of outages on our Facebook page from Friendswood and the Gulfgate area.

We want to hear from you about conditions where you are. Post to our Facebook page or Tweet your report with the hashtag #abc13.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »


local

View the original article here

No comments:

Post a Comment