A powerful storm spawned multiple tornadoes across the Greater Houston metro area Saturday afternoon, killing at least one person and injuring several others, officials said.
North of Houston, tornadoes touched down in Katy, Cypress, Porter Heights and Splendora, while south of Houston, a tornado touched down between Alvin and Liverpool, destroying several homes, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service issued a tornado warning for the area.
One person died and four people suffered injuries not considered serious in the Liverpool area, said Madison Polston, a spokeswoman for the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office.
Polston said the county had “multiple touchdown points” between Liverpool and Hillcrest Village and Alvin. He said so far they know of about 10 damaged homes but they are still working to determine the extent of the damage.
Jason Smith, deputy chief of staff for Montgomery County, which is located just north of Houston, told CBS News in an email that 50 to 100 homes were damaged by the severe weather, downed trees and power lines.
Smith said at least two people were hospitalized, but there were no reports of serious injuries so far.
Mobile homes were damaged or destroyed in Katy and Porter Heights, where doors were blown off a fire station, the weather service said.
weather service wrote that “a large and extremely dangerous tornado” was located near Stowell, which is east of Houston in Chambers County.
According to the FlightAware website, early Saturday afternoon, departures at Houston's two main airports – Houston Bush Intercontinental and Houston Hobby – were delayed by more than an hour due to the storm, which was increasing.