KATY, TX (Covering Katy News)—The clean-up continues in the Katy area following Thursday's storm that packed 100-mile-per-hour winds, and left more than 1 million people without power and seven dead regionally.
A tornado has been confirmed in Cypress which knocked over numerous power transmission lines and one of the biggest dangers in Katy neighborhoods is downed power lines. They are a danger in all three counties where the sprawling Katy area has neighborhoods.
"The Emergency Operations Center has been getting multiple calls regarding people driving over power lines and moving power lines," said a social media post by Waller County's Office of Emergency Management. "Turn around and stay off the roadways if possible. Never drive over or touch power lines."
In the City of Katy the debris removal is continuing.
"Our public works team is still actively working to remove vegetation and debris from roadways to ensure safe travel," said a statement from the City of Katy Office of Emergency Management. "Some intersections still remain without power and will function as four-way stops until restored."
There are still many people in the Katy area who are waiting for power to be restored. Power outages in the Katy area are sporadic, and while some people had their power restored on Friday, many are still in the dark.
"Harris County homes in Katy still have no power, while some have it. Very weird, hope my power comes back on soon," said a post by Tiffany Whaley Deleon on Covering Katy's Facebook page.
Power restoration work continues in Katy neighborhoods. Most of the outages appear to be in Harris and Waller County.
"We are aware of the power outages, and my staff is coordinating with CenterPoint and San Bernard Electric on downed power lines," County Judge Trey Duhon said. "We know there are multiple downed lines throughout the county, and we're working with the electric companies to get power restored as soon as possible."
Early Saturday morning, it was impossible to get an exact count of the number and location of people without power in Katy because CenterPoint Energy's Outage Tracker was not working correctly.