Thousands of people remain without power early Friday, following a massive hailstorm that swept through the area Wednesday night, causing widespread damage across the city.
One individual has been confirmed dead, while at least two others were taken to the hospital after being swept away by floodwater.
A combination of conditions — including lingering moisture from Mexico, a stalled front in Central Texas, and energy from the Rocky Mountains — converged to create the ideal setup for a fast-moving, destructive storm that even forecast models struggled to accurately predict.
Strong winds, large hail and lightning damaged electrical equipment and snapped tree limbs, resulting in downed power lines.
“The speed of this storm is a powerful reminder that all of us need to be prepared,” Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax said at a news conference on Thursday.
When is power expected to be restored?
At its peak, Wednesday’s storm left 72,000 customers without power, making it the third most severe weather-related outage event in Austin since 2012.
Only the historic winter storms of 2021 and 2023 caused more outages during that time, Austin Energy interim general manager Stuart Reilly said at a Thursday news conference. However, the 2021 outages were caused by a statewide grid failure, while the 2023 storm resulted from frozen tree limbs falling on power lines.
More than 16,000 customers remain without power early Friday. Austin Energy has not given a timeline yet for when power will be fully restored to impacted customers.
Crews have worked around the clock since outages were initially reported Wednesday evening, and more than 200 crews from neighboring areas have also joined restoration efforts, according to a post from Austin Energy.
The energy company warned Thursday that outages and restoration efforts will likely extend for multiple days due to the widespread and substantial damage.
Power outage map
How to report a power outage
Austin Energy customers
Pedernales Electric customers
Oncor customers
Bluebonnet Electric customers
Multiple water rescues throughout Austin; 1 dead
The Austin Fire Department conducted multiple water rescues from Wednesday into Thursday, responding to more than 700 storm-related calls.
One individual was confirmed dead after being found near the intersection of Steck Avenue and the MoPac Boulevard service road. Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said the person was reportedly submerged for over 20 minutes.
Several others were rescued during a series of nine water rescue calls. As of Friday morning, it was unclear if anyone remained missing.
More: Saharan dust to hit Texas just as storms clear. When to expect hazy skies in your area
Storm damage survey says sustained winds reached between 65 to 85 mph
The supercell storm that tore across Austin late Wednesday caused widespread damage along a roughly 10-mile path, extending from the Hyde Park area to just east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. In parts of East Austin, the storm’s path was as wide as 2.5 miles, according to the official damage survey from the National Weather Service office in Austin.
The storm brought sustained winds — meaning winds blowing steadily for at least a minute — ranging from 65 to 85 mph, while Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recorded a peak gust of 77 mph, according to the damage survey.
These damaging winds snapped tree limbs, uprooted shallow-rooted trees and caused shingle damage to some homes. Additional scattered wind damage was reported in Northwest Austin, where gusts between 55 and 75 mph downed small to medium-sized tree branches. In one case, part of a gas station canopy collapsed onto two vehicles with people still inside.
At Bethany Cemetery, Austin’s first Black cemetery, the largest oak tree lay toppled over several headstones Thursday morning. Several other trees had snapped in half.
“I’m pretty devastated,” said Sue Spears, president of the Bethany Cemetery Association, told the Austin American-Statesman as she watched Austin Civilian Conservation Corps workers saw up the fallen trees.
Meanwhile, large hail shattered glass near the top of the Capitol rotunda and at doorways of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Why did the storm hit so intensely?
The storm’s intensity stemmed from a complex interaction of atmospheric features.
A swirl of mid-level energy known as a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV), left behind by earlier storms over Mexico, moved into South Texas on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a weak front stalled over Central Texas, acting like a roadblock that forced the MCV, a very humid and unstable air mass and additional upper-level energy called a shortwave from the Rocky Mountains to collide and lift air rapidly.
This collision anchored powerful thunderstorms over the Austin area, including a rotating supercell storm that produced a long-track microburst — a sudden, intense rush of wind that shot downward and spread out upon hitting the ground. The supercell supplied the energy and instability needed for the microburst to maintain damaging winds over a wide, roughly 10-mile path, causing widespread damage.
Together, these interacting systems created the ideal conditions for the fast-moving, destructive storm that swept across Austin.
More: Why did storms hit Austin so hard and fast? A clash of systems from Mexico to Colorado
UFCU Disch-Falk Field repaired in time for Austin regionals
The storm also caused significant damage at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, home of the Texas Longhorns baseball team, which is scheduled to host the NCAA Tournament’s Austin Regional starting today.
Strong winds tore green panels from the batter’s eye and scattered debris across the outfield. The fencing supporting the structure was also dislodged, leaving wreckage along the warning track and deep center field.
However, the damage was quickly repaired, and the four-day series will continue as normal.
A crew examine and begin to assess the repair process to damage done to the batter’s eye at the University of Texas’ UFCU Disch-Falk Field following a severe thunderstorm on Wednesday evening, May 28, 2025. The Longhorns are set to host an NCAA Tournament Regional, beginning on Friday.
NCAA Regional bracket, schedule for Austin
All times Eastern.
Friday
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Game 1: No. 2 Texas vs. Houston Christian | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
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Game 2: Kansas State vs. UTSA | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Saturday
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Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner
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Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser (loser eliminated)
Sunday
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Game 5: Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser (loser eliminated)
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Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner
Monday
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Game 7 (if necessary): Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Thousands still without power in Austin on Friday. See live outage map
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