http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/25/us-weather-
idUSTRE80O1GB20120125
(Reuters) - A tornado hit Austin, Texas, and thunderstorms
pounded San Antonio, Dallas and Houston on Wednesday, bringing
the parched Lone Star State drenching rains and destructive
winds that knocked out power, flooded streets and kept emergency
workers busy rescuing drivers stranded in high water.
The tornado touched down early Wednesday in northeast Austin,
tearing across U.S. 290 and into a subdivision, damaging homes
along a road called Happy Trail, according to the National
Weather Service.
Springlike moisture from the Gulf of Mexico dropped the heaviest
rainfall - 6-8 inches - on an area east of Austin and San
Antonio and extending south into Houston, it added.
"That's very unusual for this time of year," NWS meteorologist
Mark Wiley said. "It was just so much rain in such a short
period of time. In so many areas, the ground is still fairly
dry, but it was just so fast that it didn't have anywhere to go,
especially in the urban areas."
There were no reports of injuries.
By Wednesday afternoon, the storms were pushing into Louisiana
and were expected to head into Mississippi and Alabama on
Thursday, the NWS said.
In Bastrop, an area east of Austin heavily damaged by Labor Day
weekend wildfires, schools canceled classes on Wednesday. In
Pflugerville, north of Austin, school buses were delayed
Wednesday morning because the school district's bus barn was
damaged overnight, the district website said. And the Houston
Independent School District canceled after-school activities.
Wind toppled an 18-wheeler in on IH-45 in Madison County,
between Dallas and Houston, officials said. More than 30 flights
were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on
Wednesday morning.
In San Antonio, lightning hit an apartment complex on the city's
north side as storms blew through, sparking a fire that forced
people into the driving rain and destroyed four apartments,
officials said.
Between Austin and Houston, in Brenham, high winds twisted trees
and tore the roofs off a couple of buildings in the downtown
area, said Ricky Boeker, fire chief and emergency management
coordinator.
"It sounded like the world was coming apart -- I'm not going to
lie," Boeker told Reuters.
The severe weather in Texas follows damaging storms and
tornadoes that swept through Arkansas and Alabama earlier in the
week.
In Texas, "while most of the region is still in the grips of a
severe drought and very much needs the rain, too much rain too
quickly can do more harm than good," AccuWeather.com
meteorologist Mark Miller said in a Wednesday report. "Still,
the rain will go a long way in helping to reduce the severity of
the drought in exceptionally dry locations."
Last year was the driest year on record in Texas and the second-
hottest, according to the NWS.
CPS Energy, the South Texas electric utility, reported more than
30,000 customers without power as wind snapped electric power
lines and knocked out traffic signals during the morning rush
hour in San Antonio. In Austin, some 5,000 customers of Austin
Energy lost power, the company said. As many as 5,000 homes and
businesses in the Dallas area also lost power, according to
Oncor Delivery.
As San Antonio resident Johnny Grant surveyed damage to homes in
his northwest San Antonio neighborhood on Wednesday, he said of
the storm: "It sounded like a freight train to me. It was
something terrible."