Property damage repairs from a massive storm that ripped through the Houston area last week and killed at least seven people are expected to extend into the summer.
Several streets in downtown Houston remain closed because of shattered glass from the storm and cleanup efforts. There are at least 3,250 broken windows at 18 high-rise buildings in downtown Houston, according to reports of a Houston Downtown Management District survey.
Wells Fargo Plaza at 1000 Louisiana St., Total Plaza at 1201 Louisiana St. and Enterprise Plaza at 1100 Louisiana St. were some of the downtown office buildings with windows blown out by the storm.
Property owners and managers in downtown Houston told the Houston Downtown Management District they expect it to take months to replace all the broken windows. A one-block stretch on Travis Street between Lamar and McKinney streets was shut down this week because of glass falling from an office tower, the Houston Police Department posted on social media.
Officials are requesting that all nonessential employees who work in the southwest quadrant of downtown — south of McKinney Street and west of Fannin Street — to work remotely through Memorial Day weekend because of public safety concerns.
Houston was hit by a derecho, or what the National Weather Service describes as a long-lived wind storm, on May 16. The unprecedented storm produced winds of at least 100 mph and left nearly 1 million households without power. About 60,000 Houstonians were still without power as of Wednesday afternoon, according to electricity provider CenterPoint Energy.
Approximately 1 million cubic yards of residential storm debris are estimated to have been generated from the storm and removal efforts are expected to last for two to three months, according to the city of Houston's Solid Waste Management Department.
An estimated value of property damage caused by the storm has not been released.