San Antonio Tornado: Texas Tornado Damages Homes, Storms Cause Flooding

Severe weather hammered the Midwest and South from Minnesota to Texas including a tornado that touched down in San Antonio, where at least 50 homes were damaged or destroyed.

“We have multiple homes damaged, several homes were taken by this tornado,” Roy Bermudez, a deputy with the Medina County Sheriff’s Office southwest of San Antonio, told Reuters Tuesday morning. Several people suffered injuries but a full assessment of the damage would be unavailable until after daylight.

Residents across this broad region were bracing for flooding Tuesday after the severe weather brought heavy rain and hail that is anticipated to continue for the next few days.

The National Weather Service explained that with the storm system slowing significantly, tornadoes are becoming less likely but flash flooding becomes a major concern.

The slow-moving weather pattern will bring thunderstorms with heavy rain as it moves over the same area, according to the NWS, which said that some locations will receive a foot of rain by midweek.

The NWS reported that the tornado touched down 25 miles southwest of San Antonio on Monday evening, and that parts of the city and surrounding areas were under a tornado warning. Although some were trapped inside their homes, no fatalities were reported by early Tuesday morning.

Due to heavy rains and winds in the general San Antonio area, about 23,000 homes were left without power on Tuesday morning, according to the city’s main electric utility company. The fire department also reported that at least two house fires occurred, possibly caused by lightening.

Monday’s tornado strikes in Texas followed two confirmed twisters in Nebraska on Sunday that destroyed homes, toppled train cars and injured two people.

The flooding rains come at a time when south and central Texas are still in the grips of a drought that began early in 2011. It developed into the state’s worst one-year drought ever.

“The more water we can get now the better off we’ll be down the road, later on this year,” said Roland Ruiz, Assistant General Manager of the Edwards Aquifer Authority, which manages the region’s water supply.

More on the weather and tornadoes in San Antonio and the Midwest in the video below:

via ABC News