San Antonio hit by thunderstorms

SAN ANTONIO — Strong thunderstorms shot across San Antonio on Friday afternoon but disappeared almost as soon as they had arrived.

Heavy rain hit downtown around 3 p.m., bringing strong wind, thunder and lightning.

There were reports of hail in parts of Boerne and also in the Timberwood Park subdivision.

A storm also blasted Bandera shortly before noon with lightning and wind-driven rain that made highway driving difficult.

“What's that wet stuff,” one Bandera County employee joked.

Jesse Parks exclaimed: “Yes, keep raining!” She directs the Helping Hand Village of Hope, a complex in Bandera that includes a medical clinic, where a 30,000-gallon tank to capture rainwater had just been installed.

“We need rain. It's beginning to fill up,” Parks observed.

Gloshay Godley braves the rain to reach customer for the Lions & Rose Pub at the intersection of Loop 410 and Blanco Road on Friday, May 9, 2014. Gloshay Godley braves the rain to reach customer for the Lions & Rose Pub at the intersection of Loop 410 and Blanco Road on Friday, May 9, 2014. Photo: Billy Calzada, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Billy Calzada, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close San Antonio hit by thunderstorms 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

The fast-moving storm pelted Boerne with pea-sized hail, leaving the streets littered with leaves torn from trees and isolated banks of ice pellets.

“It came through like a hurricane, said Chad Keyte, 39. It blew hard, and it rained hard.”

Barbara Anderson was so happy to see rain that she didn't care about the hail pounding her vehicle outside the Boerne Post Office.

“It was pouring and hailing, the whole works,” she said. “The wind was blowing and there was lightning,” said the 66-year-old Leon Springs resident. “A bunch of us stayed inside until it passed, but I got wet anyway.”

Friday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Monte Oaks said the San Antonio area likely saw all the rain it would through the weekend, though some lingering instability could bring isolated showers.

Oaks said a bit more rain may have fallen Friday than anticipated, but not enough to cause any serious problems or flooding in the region, adding that most of the wind and hail that hit the area was also on the light side.

Lightning, however, played a slightly larger role.

Oaks said a lightning strike in Karnes County on Friday afternoon blew up the storage tank of a business there. No one was reported injured.

In San Antonio, police and Fire Department rescue crews were called to the Northeast Side at the height of Friday's downpour, which lasted as long as an hour in some spots, for a water rescue. After residents of an apartment complex spotted a body floating in the Salado Creek near Eisenhauer Road, police said a man in his 20s or 30s was found dead, but had not yet determined whether the death was a drowning or something else.

Skies cleared Friday evening, but mostly cloudy skies were expected Saturday morning before dissipating to become partly cloudy in the afternoon. Mother's Day on Sunday is expected to be partly sunny, with temperatures around 90 degrees during the day and 70 degrees at night.

Oaks, however, said more turbulent weather is in the forecast next week.

“We have another approaching storm system that is going to reach us as early as Monday at midnight,” he said. A cold front is also expected to roll through Monday with the storm front.

Staff Writer Alia Malik contributed to this report.