Severe storms moving across Texas disrupted air travel, damaged schools, knocked out power and raised flood concerns Wednesday, with forecasters warning that more rain could affect parts of the state through the end of the week.
The most visible travel impacts were in North Texas, where storms contributed to cancellations and delays at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Nearly 150 flights were canceled or delayed at DFW on Wednesday after almost 700 delays Tuesday, and the Federal Aviation Administration issued ground stops at both DFW and Dallas Love Field, according to The Guardian, citing FlightAware and federal aviation information.
The weather system also brought flash flood warnings and school closures in parts of Texas. The National Weather Service office for Dallas–Fort Worth said showers and storms were expected to move into North and Central Texas overnight into Thursday, with isolated flooding the main threat. Forecasters said a few stronger storms could also bring frequent lightning, small hail and gusty winds, and warned drivers not to cross flooded roads.
In the Houston area, two Alvin ISD elementary schools — Marek and Wilder — were closed early for the summer after thunderstorms caused significant water damage. District officials initially hoped classes could resume Thursday, but later decided to end the academic year at the two campuses after assessing damage throughout the buildings. Cleanup crews were on site Wednesday morning, and the district told parents to monitor official updates.
Power outages were reported in several major metro areas. In Austin, more than 3,500 Austin Energy customers were affected by 33 active outages Wednesday morning after overnight severe weather. Austin Energy said crews worked through the night repairing equipment damaged by lightning and high winds, adding that all available crews were in service. By 9:11 a.m., the number had dropped to 391 customers across 30 active outages.
The Austin outages were not isolated. In the Houston area, CenterPoint Energy reported nearly 15,000 customers without power at one point Wednesday morning after thunderstorms brought heavy rain through the region. The number dropped, then rebounded above 11,600 shortly after 9 a.m. CenterPoint said crews had already restored service to 95,000 customers since Tuesday evening and that about 96% of customers were not affected by the overnight storm event.
Utility officials framed the response as a restoration and safety effort, not a systemwide failure. CenterPoint said its emergency operations center remained active while crews continued working on isolated outages across the Greater Houston area. Austin Energy also directed residents to its outage map and urged patience while repairs continued.
For residents, the larger concern is that the storm pattern may not be over. The National Weather Service said daily chances for showers and storms continue through the weekend in North and Central Texas, with locally heavy rain possible and a low threat for strong or severe storms.
The storms created a familiar challenge for Texas: fast-changing weather across a large state where impacts can vary sharply from city to city. In Dallas–Fort Worth, the issue was flight disruption and flood risk. In Austin, lightning and wind damaged electric equipment. In Houston-area communities, heavy rain caused power outages and enough school damage to close two campuses early.
Emergency officials and forecasters are urging residents to stay weather-aware, avoid flooded roads and check local outage and road-closure maps before traveling. For air passengers, delays may continue depending on how quickly storms move through the region and whether airports can return to normal operations between rounds of weather.
