Severe Storms Cause Widespread Outages, Damage

A multi-day storm system that moved from Texas into Oklahoma produced heavy rain, damaging straight-line winds, very large hail and isolated tornadoes, flooding parts of I‑45 and knocking out power to more than 150,000 Houston-area customers. In Western Washington, Puget Sound Energy reported peak outages of roughly 113,000–165,000 customers and said downed transmission lines between Thurston and Pierce counties mean neighborhood restorations could take days; PSE has deployed helicopters and more than 90 line crews. CenterPoint mobilized crews in Houston but some tenants at the 600 Nottingham Apartments remained powerless because a privately owned fallen pole must be repaired before crews can safely re-energize service. New Zealand’s Southland and Otago suffered gale-force winds and multi-day outages, prompting a NZ$150,000 government contribution to mayoral relief funds as communities rely on generators and mutual aid. Smaller but significant outages affected southwest Reno/Washoe Valley and parts of the Tacoma/Pierce area, and officials repeatedly warned the public to avoid downed lines. Forecasters issued flood, severe‑thunderstorm and tornado watches across parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast, while Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean posed an additional threat.