AUSTIN, Texas — A cold front brought a line of severe storms across the Austin area on Sunday evening, producing wind gusts, hail, heavy rain, and lightning and causing widespread power outages, according to weather officials and utility reports.
Austin Energy reported more than 14,000 customers without power as of 11:06 p.m., according to its outage map. Based on the utility’s estimate of about 2.5 people per customer, the outages affected roughly 35,000 residents.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Williamson, Travis, and Hays counties, along with much of Central Texas, lasting until 2 a.m. Monday. Several severe thunderstorm warnings were also issued during the evening but expired before midnight.
A severe thunderstorm watch indicates that conditions are favorable for severe storms to develop. A warning indicates that severe weather is occurring or imminent, according to the National Weather Service.
Parts of Williamson County, western Travis County, and portions of Hays County were under an “enhanced” risk level for severe weather, rated 3 out of 5 by the National Weather Service. Meteorologists said this level of risk is issued only a few times per year for Travis County.
The storms were forecast to move from northwest to southeast across the region, with the earliest impacts expected around 5 p.m. in northwestern areas and later in the evening in southeastern areas. Officials said the highest risk period occurred during the first one to two hours after storms entered the region.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed state emergency response resources to activate ahead of the severe weather.
The National Weather Service said the storms were expected to move out of the area by Monday morning, followed by cooler temperatures to start the week.
