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By Anna Skinner
Associate News Editor
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Nearly 60,000 people are without power in northeastern Texas on Memorial Day as severe storms bring damaging wind gusts, heavy downpours and hail to the region.
Newsweek reached out to Oncor, Texas' largest energy provider, by email for comment.
Why It Matters
Severe thunderstorms are hitting the Southern Plains on Monday, with National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists warning of damaging winds and floods across at least six states.
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The severe weather is expected to impact Memorial Day celebrations, and it also has disrupted power service to thousands.
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What To Know
As of Monday at 11:15 a.m. ET, more than 56,000 people were without power in Texas, including more than 34,000 Oncor customers, according to a poweroutage.us map.
Most outages were concentrated in eastern Texas, including Houston, Jasper, San Augustine, Rusk and Henderson counties.
NWS meteorologists have issued flood watches and flash flood warnings across the area. Earlier Monday morning, severe thunderstorm warnings also were in place.
"Multiple rounds of thunderstorms are forecast to impact portions of the Southern Plains, Mid-South, and Tennessee Valley through Memorial Day," an NWS forecast on Monday morning said. "Severe thunderstorms may produce large hail, severe wind gusts, and a few tornadoes. Excessive rainfall is also likely and may result in scattered to numerous instances of flash flooding."
Two rounds of thunderstorms were expected to hit the Houston forecast area on Monday, NWS Houston posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday morning. The first round hit in the Piney Woods region. The second round of storms is expected later Monday night.
This morning, Oncor posted on X, saying its crews worked through the night to restore power after severe storms hit the region earlier this weekend.
What People Are Saying
Oncor in a Memorial Day weather alert on its website: "Oncor is continuing to monitor and respond to the severe storm system moving through our service area. As soon as weather conditions allowed, Oncor teams began working to assess damages, repair equipment and restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Flooding may cause delays and access challenges for field resources. We appreciate our customers' patience as these efforts continue around the clock."
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Chad Merrill in a report: "Repetitive rounds of rain will continue across the southern Plains and Ozarks through Memorial Day, resulting in additional or worsening flooding. Although northwestern Arkansas and northern Texas has not experienced the heaviest rain thus far, we expect pockets of heavy rain to expand across these areas through Monday."
What Happens Next
A second round of storms will hit Texas on Monday night. Most flood watches will expire by Tuesday morning as the heavy downpours move out of the region.
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