Flood Warning issued for Onion Creek in Travis County;
Flood Warning issued for Onion Creek in Travis County
A noisy, lightning-filled band of storms slowly crawled across Central Texas late Wednesday into the wee hours of Thursday, dumping up to 8 inches of rain in spots along the Interstate 35 corridor.

By daybreak, the storms drifted southeast, away from the Austin area, but the better news is that the Austin area is unlikely to see any more heavy rainfall this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

"The stronger front arrives by midday tomorrow," the weather service said in a bulletin Thursday afternoon. "This is the front we have all been waiting for that will give South Central Texas the first real taste of fall."

Forecasters said that "behind the front, north winds will kick in, ushering in cooler and drier air."




"Given the earlier arrival of the front, some areas of the Hill Country may not get out of the 70s on Friday," the weather service said.

Friday's forecast for Austin includes sunny skies with temperatures topping out around 83 degrees as the cold front turns west-southwest winds into cooler north-northwest winds of 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Austin's nighttime temperatures could sink into the low 50s under mostly clear skies and with gusty north winds, the weather service said.

Saturday should be sunny but with a high near 74 amid brisk north winds of 5 to 10 mph and gusts as strong as 20 mph. Overnight, temperatures could drop to around 50.

Sunday's outlook calls for mostly sunny skies with a high near 75 and an overnight low around 50.

Meteorologists said that moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Pamela, which crossed onto the Pacific coast of Mexico on Wednesday, ended up feeding the overnight storms. But as of Thursday, forecasters said "any low-level circulation remaining from Pamela is no longer evident."

The thunderstorms soaked a swath of Texas stretching from the Rio Grande to Northeast Texas. Some who got caught on roads during the storms faced a high risk of being swept away by flood waters.

In Bexar County, authorities were looking for a 5-year-old girl and a woman from the San Antonio area after two vehicles were swept away by high water Thursday morning, KSAT-TV reported.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the girl had been traveling in a car that became fully submerged.

A man who was with her in the car was rescued.

The woman was in a second vehicle with four boys, but the children are safe, Salazar said.

In Central Texas, some of the highest rainfall totals in the 24 hours before 10 a.m. Thursday, recorded by the Lower Colorado River Authority and the National Weather Service, included:

- 8.65 inches southeast of Wimberley in southern Hays County

- 7.64 inches northwest of Lockhart in Caldwell County

- 5.51 inches west of Rosanky in Bastrop County

- 5 inches in Lakeway on the south shore of Lake Travis in western Travis County

- 4.64 inches north of Creedmoor in southern Travis County

- 3.42 inches at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in southeastern Travis County

- 2.92 inches of rain at Camp Mabry, site of Austin's main weather station

The storm tangled traffic at the Austin airport, where airlines delayed flights for departing passengers and even stalled some arriving passengers.

Flooded rural roadways prompted a few Central Texas school districts to delay operations.

The Hays school district, which encompasses 25 campuses serving more than 20,000 students throughout northern Hays County, began classes and bus pickups two hours beyond their normal start times and canceled all morning activities.

The district told its community of staff and families in a statement that more than two dozen low water crossings in the district were overrun by flood waters and that "the two-hour delay will help keep drivers off the roads while it is still dark outside and allow time for some of the water to drain away."

The Wimberley school district in southern Hays County, and two school districts in Caldwell County — Lockhart and Luling — also enacted a two-hour delay Thursday.

Flooding also forced the city of Austin to close its iconic swimming hole Barton Springs Pool.

"Barton Springs will remain closed until the flooding stops and damage can be assessed," parks officials said in a statement Thursday.

The heavy rainfall also prompted authorities in Comal County, home of the Schlitterbahn water park in New Braunfels, to close public access to the Comal River in New Braunfels. City officials cited "an increased flow of water in the Comal River ... with poor water clarity, swift moving water, and debris."

Authorities will reevaluate river conditions on Friday to determine when river recreation can resume, officials said.