Rosa Flores' 5 p.m. update

HOUSTON -- Thursday started off wet and wild for some areas, and now southwest counties should watch out for storms this afternoon as temperatures rise.

But it will be temporary, because a cold front is following all of this wet weather.

"The passage of a cold front is still expected to bring slightly cooler temperatures and make for a nice weekend," 11 News meteorologist David Paul said.

First-round damages

The mess Rick Richardson was picking up Thursday came courtesy of a night of nasty weather. “I’ve been working since 7:30 this morning trying to get everything cleaned up.”

The overnight storm broke the top of Richardson’s front yard tree.

A sharp edge missed his daughter’s window by about an inch. “She slept through the whole thing. It must be nice being 11.”

It wasn’t so nice in Porter. Rain, strong winds and lightning caused major damage there.

The winds were so strong that they peeled off the metal roofing of the Porter Pawn Shop.

The store's owner said he got quite the wake-up call from his alarm company just after 3 a.m.

"Sometimes alarms will give fake stuff to you," owner Rick Findley said. "You'll come down, and there won't be anything wrong. Police scratch their head, you scratch your head -- luckily, you go back home.

"But this was a shock," Finley said. "A pretty big shock."

Findley says he had to replace about 25 percent of his roof.

No power was an issue for other business owners like Joseph Henry. “They told us it would be done at 12 and they didn’t make it.”

In Kingwood, a tree ripped out of the ground and pierced the roof of a home. No one was hurt.

In Huffman, trees were no match for Mother Nature’s fury.

A tree broke in half on the east side of Lake Houston there.

Just a few blocks away at Highway 59 and FM 1314, some power lines were knocked down and shopping carts were blown all over.

Power was also briefly knocked out for several blocks near Bellaire and Bissonnet, and a broken traffic light at Westheimer in the Loop was causing traffic issues for motorists.