In the daylight, Houstonians assess the destruction that caught many of them by surprise Thursday evening.
“This is something that you don’t expect to happen in two minutes, three minutes," said Ricardo Magana, who works at an auto glass shop northwest of downtown.
He was outside, about to get in his truck, when the sky darkened.
Magana said he got inside his car, which started shaking, and watched as the wind picked apart the tire shop next door.
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Magana said people were inside, but all survived.
Pieces of the building still remained strewn across the road on Friday evening, along with downed power lines, making the road impassable.
Nearby, the roof of an apartment building was seen tangled in a tree-- wind had ripped off roofs from several buildings in the complex, exposing homes and filling them with debris.
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“I’m very grateful. Because everything is alive," said Max Perez.
Perez said he and his kids happened to be outside, trying to catch their pets.
"I hear the screaming and everything for the people and I hear the noise from those roofs," he recalled.
Perez said he grabbed his daughter and got into his truck, and they hid in an education center across the street.
He said the experience was different than the two hurricanes he's lived through here.
“In this case, you don’t have time for anything," Perez said.
He said he watched as the roof flew off of his apartment, bringing torrential rain into the building, which burst into apartments below.
"I'm going to be fishing right here!" said Hilario Flores as he laughed.
He said he and his family spent the night at a local church.
They came back Friday morning to salvage some of their items, a friend offering their garage for storage.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said winds swept from northwest to southeast, through downtown Houston.
Tree limbs were ripped off trunks, and windows were blown out of buildings.
The National Weather Service said gusts peaked at 100 miles per hour downtown.
“I was terrified! In the living room, we have a large concrete column that’s part of the structure of the building and I’m not afraid to say I got right behind it," said Patricia Datray, who lives downtown.
She and many neighbors still counting their blessings on Friday, knowing the same storm killed at least four people, according to Houston Mayor John Whitmire.
One of those victims was a young mother in Southeast Houston.
Police said she had gone outside to move her car, afraid of a tree falling on it. They said a tree fell before she was able to move the car, killing her.
“She was funny, very smart, really loved to take care of her kids," said Audrey Gomez, a friend of the victim.
“It was fierce, it was intense, it was quick, and most Houstonians didn’t have time to place themselves out of harm’s way," said Whitmire.
A deadly storm that came on quickly, but will take Houstonians much longer to recover from.
“Your whole business, your whole life-- to start with again, it’s hard," Magana said.
Hidalgo said recovery will be measured in weeks, not days-- including power restoration.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands were still without power, and thousands of traffic signals weren't working, bringing words of caution from officials about drivers.
