Poweroutage.us reports that over 1 million customers in Texas currently have no electricity following a massive storm on May 16. The Houston Chronicle noted that the severe weather led to at least 7 fatalities.

Additionally, as of May 19, Louisiana has 6,934 customers without power. CenterPoint Energy disclosed on May 18 that it anticipates about 80 percent of the Houston-area outages will be restored by the evening of May 19. Notably, the Houston metro area hosts the world’s largest medical complex and the most significant concentration of petrochemical plants in the U.S.

Restoration efforts are under threat from predicted record high temperatures in the coming days. The U.S. National Weather Service forecasts temperatures could reach up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38ºC) in some Texas regions.

On May 17, AccuWeather estimated the total damage and economic losses for the Houston metropolitan area to be between $5 billion and $7 billion. The damage to downtown Houston was compared to the wind impacts experienced during Hurricanes Ike and Alicia.