HOUSTON — A round of thunderstorms roared through Houston Monday afternoon, bringing heavy rain, hail and a lot of thunder and lightning.
The downpours dumped 3 inches on some areas, causing flash flooding on several roadways and making driving treacherous.
By 6 p.m., things had calmed down and the water was slowly receding but traffic was still a mess.
A lot of rush hour drivers were caught off guard, including right in front of our station on Westheimer near Chimney Rock. We saw two people trying to push their car to higher ground.
Others pulled into our KHOU driveway to wait it out.
On nearby Bering street, we saw flooded vehicles abandoned by their owners. Others tried to pull into a church parking lot to wait for the water to recede.
KHOU 11's Xavier Walton also captured high water and cars going through it in the Galleria area.
You should never try to drive through high water so turn around, don't drown.
Xavier also tweeted video from Hidalgo Street near the Galleria where some cars were going the wrong way on a one-way street.
At 5 p.m., CenterPoint reported more than 33,000 customers without power.
Unfortunately, that means a lot of traffic lights are out which is slowing rush hour even more.
KHOU 11 Meteorologist Tim Padajis said the storm produced 300+ lightning strikes within Harris County in one 10-minute period.
Some west Houston neighborhoods also got hail, according to KHOU 11 Chief Meteorologist David Paul.
Our weather team is also busy keeping up with all the action in the Tropics, where Fred, Grace and Henri are still in play.