Thousands without power in Houston as thunderstorms roll through Texas toward southeastern US

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Thousands in the Houston area are without power after hefty thunderstorms with 70-mile-per-hour winds, hail and lightning rolled in early Tuesday morning, downing power lines and shutting off electricity for more than 160,000 people.

A line of storms with more lightning, heavy downpour and gusty winds is expected to continue to head eastward into Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and New Orleans had been issued severe weather warnings.

In Houston, tens of thousands of people remain without power hours after the thunderstorm, according to an outage tracker from CenterPoint Energy, the city's largest utility provider.

The outages impacted much of Houston's northern suburbs and stretched eastward into Galveston.

At least some damage has been sustained by a fallen tree into the roof of one home, according to Harris County Constable Mark Herman in a social media post.

A flash flood warning had been issued for parts of central Mississippi on Tuesday afternoon.