Severe Weather Moving Into The San Antonio Area With High Winds, Heavy Rains

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A wave of severe storms roared into South Central Texas late Friday evening and early Saturday morning. They were part of a massive storm system that stretched across Texas, from Mexico to Oklahoma.

The National Weather Service reported the “squall line” moved into the Hill Country around 10 p.m. Friday. “Damaging wind gusts, small hail, and torrential rainfall is occurring in some portions of the line,” NWS forecasters tweeted.

The areas around San Antonio, New Braunfels and Schertz were in a severe thunderstorm warning until 11:30 p.m.

Forecasters advised that heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the San Antonio area was possible. One to three inches of rainfall was possible, they explained, with isolated amounts up to five inches, which could lead to flash flooding.

“Strong damaging wind gusts remains the primary threat with large hail also possible,” a forecaster wrote Friday evening.

Throughout Friday evening, the NWS tweeted out maps of West Texas and radar gifs illustrating the wave of storms sweeping eastward. The red boxes representing the extent of severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings consumed entire counties. Every hour showed the box creeping closer and closer to Bexar County.

Yellow was the color of the severe thunderstorm watch, which stretched from Laredo to the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Friday that he had activated state resources to assist with any emergencies and damages related to the weather.

“The State of Texas has placed these resources on standby as a precautionary measure to help respond to any potential severe weather and protect Texans across the Lone Star State,” Abbott’s office explained. “Over the weekend, Texans should pay attention to weather alerts and heed guidance from their local officials as these storms cross our state.”

CPS Energy also monitored the storms throughout Friday evening. It tweeted out the standard tips to any customers who lost power: Stay away from downed power lines. Do not drive over any downed lines because they may still be live. Never enter standing water in a flooded home or other building unless you’re sure the main power is off. If possible, cusomters could report outages and monitor the extent of area-wide outages with the CPS Outage Map.

The NWS reported San Antonio in 2020 was only about an inch and a half behind average rainfall totals. But the Edwards Aquifer level is only a foot about the mark where stage one water restrictions are triggered.

This story will be updated.

Norma Martinez and Fernando Ortiz Jr. contributed to this report.
Brian Kirkpatrick can be reached at Brian@TPR.org and on Twitter at @TPRBrian.

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