AUSTIN: Storm damage

KevinFromTexas · #1 Posted **May 15, 2008, 12:11 PM**

Stormy night in Austin. There was some storm damage in downtown at the W Hotel & Austin Residences construction site. First off, my sister and her fiancee live just a few blocks east of downtown. She called lastnight at about 11 pm to tell me they were having at least golf ball sized hail. Some areas of downtown and Central Austin actually got tennis ball to baseball sized hail, up to 4 inches in diameter in some places. A caller called into KLBJ-FM this morning. He said he lives in the new Mueller neighborhood. He said that every house in the neighborhood had their west facing windows broken by the hail. Because of the wind gusts which were 50 or 60 mph, the hail was falling at an angle and broke windows. At the W Hotel/Residences construction site in downtown, the construction barricades around the site were blown over. Several big trees were also blown over along Enfield completely blocking the street.

Interstate 35 re-opened
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...of_inters.html

Lee, Mathews, Pease and AC closed today
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...thews_pea.html

19,000 customers without power after storms
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...customers.html

Rain, high winds storm through Central Texas
http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...0515storm.html

Photo gallery at Statesman.com.
http://www.statesman.com/news/mediah...jsp?tId=108456

Here's a picture I took last night of the lightning.

texboy · #2 Posted **May 15, 2008, 2:10 PM**

I have craters in my car this morning....not dents....CRATERS....That storm was UNREAL last night!

MichaelB · #3 Posted **May 15, 2008, 3:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by texboy

I have craters in my car this morning....not dents....CRATERS....That storm was UNREAL last night!

Man, that sucks. I don't know how, but my car was on the street downtown and it missed it. Luck. Crazy though. I was at Mohawk filming a friends band.... we went out side on a break just in time to see the tent at Club Deville fly off! It was crazy! Soooo many trees down. The state office building at Lavaca and 15th has about 15 windows out.

matthew2109 · #4 Posted **May 15, 2008, 4:54 PM**

wow, that reminds of the San Marcos storm that hit the Outlet Malls

austintilIdie · #5 Posted **May 15, 2008, 5:01 PM**

Heavy wind damage as far north as Hyde Park, (my old stomping grounds) down south through downtown...anyone know how far south? Looks like it cut right through the heart of Austin. KXAN lost power and were on generators around last nite after it blew through the MLK/Lamar area

I missed all the action last night here at I-35 and 183. Two storms went just north of me through Round Rock and Pflugerville area down to Parmer Lane and I got just a taste of what blew in Austin. No hail reported, things were relatively tame, but it was a beautiful lightning show.

Austin has been known to deflect storms and I've seen it happen but things last night were ripe...three beauties lined up on the radar, one was bound to cut through town.

Watching KXAN at noon, haven't seen anything than the Statesman's coverage so far this morning...KXAN reports damage at the Capitol in a teaser

KevinFromTexas · #6 Posted **May 15, 2008, 5:24 PM**

The 15-story William P. Clements State Office building at 15th & Guadalupe had several of its windows busted out on the upper floors from the hail. They also said some of the windows in the dome of the Capitol were busted out, and many of the trees on the Capitol grounds have been damaged. In West Campus, there have been 600 calls for window repairs. One apartment building along had 70 of its windows busted out.

Here in South Austin we didn't get any hail or major winds. I went up the store this morning and did see a few small tree limbs snapped off, but nothing major. And a stand alone sign in the parking lot of a convenience store blew over. Other than that, nothing major in South Austin. We ate at El Gallo on South Congress and left there at about 10 pm. It was lightning off to the north and you could feel the air changing, getting cooler, more breezy and humid, but it didn't start to rain here until 1 am. I stood outside lastnight and watched the storm roll in. It only rained and "stormed" for about 20 minutes, then it was over. After it quit raining, about 30 minutes after it arrived, I hopped on my bike and rode down to Crockett High for that photo above.

I've seen stronger storms in South Austin before. In 2005 several big trees were completely destroyed near my neighborhood. Garrison Park lost several big elms and oaks.

KevinFromTexas · #7 Posted **May 15, 2008, 5:50 PM**

State Capitol damage
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...capitol_d.html

31 windows gone in state building
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...dows_gone.html

Austin American-Statesman readers photo gallery:
http://www.statesman.com/news/mediah...jsp?tId=108456

Austin American-Statesman staff photo gallery:
http://www.statesman.com/news/mediah...jsp?tId=108527

Lots of tree damage at the Capitol.

M1EK · #8 Posted **May 15, 2008, 7:31 PM**

I'm just now online (thanks to neighbors' wi-fi). Lost a ton of windows on one side of the house, as did many of my neighbors. Our mighty Bichon woke up the 14-year-old so he didn't get hit by any glass; I had to move the 4-year-old myself. Both were sleeping right next to the windows that got smashed. I had a loaner car from the car dealer while our brand-new Prius was getting some additional upholstery work (our older Prius is at the body shop getting fixed from the last hailstorm); and the neighbors' tree dropped a huge limb right on the loaner car, smashing the back window.

So I gots three cars, and none of them can be used.

Plus, the limb knocked out the wires for Grande, meaning no phone; no TV; no internet (until my neighbor just let me on his wifi).

THINGS IS GOIN' GREAT!

JAM · #9 Posted **May 15, 2008, 8:14 PM**

Damn M1EK, that bites.

What storm? Hadn't slept good in a week. I would have slept right thru it, but my wife woke me up and said she was scared. We moved away from the windows to another room. Winds were howling, they get cruising pretty good above 6 or so floors.

KevinFromTexas · #10 Posted **May 15, 2008, 10:49 PM**

Big hail storms are scary, especially if you're not all that familiar with them. A few years ago we had a hail storm and the hail was maybe large marble size. I stepped outside on the patio to watch and listen to the storm as it just started to roll in. I didn't realize there would be hail. So I'm standing there with my head out the door when I hear BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM way up the street. It was a line of hail coming down the street and the noise I was hearing was everything in its path getting pulverized. Then it hit us and it was so freaking loud. It was like having an army of roofers with hammers banging away on your roof.

TexasBoi · #11 Posted **May 16, 2008, 12:51 AM**

I hated the month of May when growing up in Texas. Always the month of Tornadoes, hail storms, and strong storms. It is my birth month so eh.

Jdawgboy · #12 Posted **May 16, 2008, 2:08 AM**

I was actually in downtown at the time at a club on 6th, we saw the trees bending almost sidways. When we left there were bits and pieces of trees along Congress and 6th. Was pretty impressive, thank goodness we were inside.

shanny · #13 Posted **May 16, 2008, 3:22 AM**

jim spencer was flipping out over this storm

matthew2109 · #14 Posted **May 16, 2008, 4:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanny

jim spencer was flipping out over this storm

the KXAN dude???

Mopacs · #15 Posted **May 16, 2008, 5:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanny

jim spencer was flipping out over this storm

Jim could be a poster child for ADHD... or the adult form thereof. You've got to appreciate his extreme passion though.

Well for us in Williamson County, we got 3 supercells in rapid succession. The first came with a funnel cloud right over my house, followed by two more storms. Luckily the hail and winds were much tamer than those in central Austin. As a life=long Austinite, spring storms like this are just par for the course

KevinFromTexas · #16 Posted **May 20, 2008, 5:19 AM**

Damage estimates are in from the hail storm that swept through downtown and Central Austin last week. 40,000 people were without electricity due to 70 mph winds. 4 inch diameter hail fell. It fell at an angle thanks to the high winds. Several highrises downtown had their windows busted out because of it. I even noticed a pane of glass missing from the crown of the Frost Bank Tower. Several lights were busted out of One Congress Plaza. Even the Capitol had some of the windows busted out in the dome. Thousands of trees were damaged. 8 trees were destroyed on the Capitol grounds and 15 more were damaged. And there was 2 to 4 inches of rain in the area and at least one house fire due to a lightning strike, and another house in the Hyde Park area was pretty much destroyed when a 100 foot tree crashed through it. No one was seriously injured or killed though in the storms.

Storm damage estimated at $50 million
http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...20roundup.html

KevinFromTexas · #17 Posted **May 20, 2008, 12:51 PM**

I went for a round of photos on Sunday. I headed over to Zilker Park for a bit and then over to Butler Park for more pictures. I caught some of the storm damage.

A large mesquite tree in Zilker Park. Several pecan trees had their smaller branches knocked off. But this one near the playground got it pretty bad. Another tree, possibly an oak (I didn't get a good look) looked to be completely destroyed. The whole top of the tree was snapped off.

Frost Bank Tower with a pane of glass busted out in the crown.

One Congress Plaza with some battered lights (blue lights). The storm rolled in from the west, and with the high winds and huge hail, windows and everything else that faced west took a beating.