Texas storm crisis leaves thousands powerless as more severe weather looms

Damaging thunderstorms swept through North Texas, unleashing wind gusts nearing 80 mph, toppling trees and power lines, and leaving tens of thousands without power.

The storms signaled the start of a volatile weather week for Texas and much of the eastern United States, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

At the peak of the outage on June 9, nearly 160,000 Texas customers were without electricity. By daybreak, that number had dropped to around 90,000. The storm triggered almost 200 reports of damage across the state due to high winds, hail, flash flooding, and even tornadoes.

The clash between very warm, humid air from the south and cooler air from the north created a highly unstable atmosphere that fueled the North Texas storms. Meteorologists had warned that the storm might evolve into a derecho — a long-lived, destructive windstorm — but the damage swath was too inconsistent to meet the criteria.

The same storm system that battered Texas is expected to regain strength over the southern United States on June 9. Areas at risk include eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. The threat also stretches north into eastern Kentucky, western West Virginia and Virginia, western Maryland, eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York.

According to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, a “slight risk” for severe thunderstorms (Level 2 of 5) spans numerous eastern states into June 10. Damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes are possible.

Texas is forecast to endure additional storm clusters this week, raising the risk of flash flooding and severe weather. A slow-moving upper-level low-pressure system is expected to generate multiple days of intense rainfall. The Weather Prediction Center warns of a “slight risk” for excessive rainfall from June 10 to June 13, impacting cities such as San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas.

An intensifying tropical moisture plume from the Caribbean Sea will fuel the rain. Texas has already surpassed its average annual tornado count with 136 reported so far this year, along with 748 wind damage reports and 860 reports of large hail.

Stronger jet stream winds and elevated Gulf temperatures have significantly increased thunderstorm activity in the region.

By Vafa Guliyeva