Soaking thunderstorms that passed through South-Central Texas during Tuesday's morning rush hour snarled traffic and caused thousands of power outages, officials said.

A funnel cloud was spotted in Gonzales County. In San Antonio, a woman told emergency responders that her umbrella was struck by lightning as she walked in the 500 block of Southwest 27th Street at about 8 a.m.

She wasn't severely injured and was treated at the scene, a Fire Department spokeswoman said.

The storms cleared out of the area by afternoon, but not before dumping almost half an inch of rain on San Antonio, National Weather Service Forecaster Pat McDonald said.

The funnel cloud, seen on FM 97 between Nixon and Smiley at about 10:30 a.m., caused no reported damage, according to the NWS. Officials don't believe the twister touched down.

More than 180 vehicle crashes were reported between midnight and 11 a.m., well over the normal rate of 120 crashes in a 24-hour period, according to San Antonio Police Department spokesman Officer Matt Porter.

There were no reported fatalities.

Although the rains were welcome they did not come close to getting the region out of water-use restrictions. This year San Antonio has seen its worst drought on record and rainfall remains more than 16 inches below average.

If more rain does not continue to fall in the next few weeks, the Edwards Aquifer Authority anticipates San Antonio will enter Stage 3 restrictions by early 2012. Unlike the current Stage 2 restrictions, which limit outdoor watering to once a week, Stage 3 would limit irrigation to once every other week.

The long-term forecasts from federal and stage agencies all predict the drought to continue though at least June.

But on Tuesday, “everybody got some good rainfall,” McDonald said. Wind gusts up to 40 mph were reported at San Antonio International Airport. Uvalde and Medina counties took the brunt of the storm. More than 1.4 inches of rain and wind gusts reaching 68 mph were recorded in Hondo, McDonald said, and marble-sized hail was reported in Uvalde, with downed trees and power lines in both cities, he said. Urban flooding took place in Comal, Hays and Guadalupe counties.

At the storm's peak, more than 11,000 CPS Energy customers lost power, said the utility's spokesman John Moreno. By 3 p.m., all storm-related outages had been restored, but a station just south of downtown had failed, causing more than 800 outages.

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Today's high was expected to reach 82, but a cold front will chill temperatures to the 40s Wednesday night.

Drier, cooler temperatures are expected to linger through Friday, officials said.

Staff Writer Colin McDonald contributed to this report.