From downed transmission lines to uprooted trees, storms leave trail of damage in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A severe storm with damaging winds, prompting tornado alerts, passed through Houston and surrounding areas late Thursday, leaving behind a trail of damage.

In west Harris County, ABC13's cameras captured a couple of downed transmission lines at West and Fry Road.

"These are the strongest ones, the ones that carry the highest current, and it takes a lot of wind to topple something like this because they're built to withstand high winds," Chief Forecaster David Tillman said during Thursday's coverage update on the downed lines.

Also in Katy, along Fry Road and FM-529, eyewitness photos showed damage to a home's backyard and a tree that snapped, with part of it on top of a vehicle.

In that same area, more images showed damage to the Starbucks location across the street from Cy-Springs High School. Down the road from that area, in the Cypress Springs retail plaza, the plaza's sign took on heavy damage, with some parts nearly ripped off.

In the northeast part of the city, a viewer sent images of the damage at the Krab Junkie on Kelly Road. Images showed downed branches and what appears to be a trampoline and a fan on a post and fence.

Images from another one of ABC13's cameras show massive damage to the Conejo Malo club at Travis Street near Commerce. Footage shows an entire brick wall of the building ripped off, with more than dozens of bricks covering the parking lot. It's unclear if anyone was inside the building during that time.

In the northwest area, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez shared on social media an image of an uprooted tree that had fallen at the intersection of Pinemont Drive and TC Jester.

"Please avoid the roadways if possible," Gonzalez urged.

Also in downtown, a guest at the Hyatt Regency shared a video of water pouring inside after winds apparently blew out the windows.

So far, it's unclear if anyone has been injured.