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National Weather Service Investigates If A Tornado Touched Down Wednesday Night

Cloudy skies and lightning could be seen in downtown San Antonio on Wednesday night.
Bri Kirkham
/
Texas Public Radio
Cloudy skies and lightning could be seen in downtown San Antonio on Wednesday night.

Updated Thursday at 1 p.m.
Some South Central Texas residents are cleaning up storm damage after multiple rounds of severe weather Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

Hondo Schools were closed Thursday to assess the storm damage.

The first of several tornado warnings was issued shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday for the area around D’Hanis and Hondo. The Hondo-area was hard hit, with hail measuring up to 4 inches, downed trees, roofs ripped off homes and businesses, broken windows and power outages.

Hondo Mayor James Danner said there were no fatalities or reportable injuries. The National Weather Service is investigating the storms.

"There's a survey team out there investigating the damage reports to see if there was a tornado or not," said meterologist Monte Oaks.

San Antonio, Live Oak, New Braunfels and San Marcos also saw hail, high winds and flash flooding from the storms

Power is being restored to CPS Energy customers after strong winds, rain and possible tornadic activity impacted areas in and around Bexar County last night. A tornado watch expired at 5 a.m. this morning for 28 counties in South Central Texas including Bexar, Atascosa, Bandera, Guadalupe and Medina counties.

The National Weather Service will send out survey teams at daylight to inspect damage reported between Hondo and Castroville and determine whether any tornadoes touched down in the area.

A large swath of the region, from Del Rio to San Marcos, was struck by damaging hail. Golf ball-sized hail was confirmed on San Antonio's far West Side and reports of downed trees were confirmed on the city's North East side.

The San Antonio International Airport set a calendar date record for rainfall on Apr. 28 at 2.55 inches, according to Keith White, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio Weather Forecast Office.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue Thursday, stretching from Uvalde County, up through the I-35 corridor and then to the east. The storms are not expected to be as severe, but White warns rainy, wet conditions will remain in the region through Saturday before the weather improves.

"But it does look like things will gradually dry out on Sunday and then we'll warm up quickly Sunday and then especially on Monday," said White. "It looks like Monday is going to be a hot one."

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Jerry Clayton can be reached at jerry@tpr.org or on Twitter at @jerryclayton.