In NW Harris county and wind is pretty fierce. Coming in spurts. I asked my wife if we could have taken this storm if it would have been a direct hit on Houston.
I don't know if we could now. Pretty scary.
Things are a lot better than they were an hour ago here just outside the 610 Loop. Rain is gone now, though we had a nice shower earlier. The wind here has been in spurts also. Probably a few gusts to tropical storm force. Power only had a brief interruption.
What was wild (and I think someone else mentioned this on FNC) was the different colored lightning in the clouds. Some was greenish-blue -- I thought it was blown transformers at first -- and some was more like orange. Speaking of orange, I know that most of Houston still has power b/c the sky has its characteristic sodium-vapor light reflective glow.
You're right about how bad a direct hit would have been. I hope those to our east are doing okay.