Hail as large as baseballs fell in Texas on Wednesday, officials said, as thunderstorms whipped across parts of the American South and forecasters warned of possible damage from flying debris and flash flooding in low-lying areas over the next two days.
Storms across Central Texas were producing “very large, destructive hail” early Wednesday evening, including four-inch specimens that fell over Waco, a city south of Dallas, the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth said on Twitter.
Waco’s police department said that one of its officers’ cars had been hit with “baseball-size hail.” Unconfirmed reports streaming into the National Weather Service said that hail falling around Texas ranged from the size of nickels to golf balls.
Large hail was also observed as storms rolled through Florida on Wednesday afternoon. In the city of West Melbourne, southeast of Orlando, the National Weather Service meteorologist Tony Cristaldi posted a video showing hail hitting cars in his driveway, and what he called a “river of ice” floating down his street.
Forecasters said they expected the storm system to push east on Thursday and Friday, potentially producing more hail in Florida or flooding along the Gulf Coast.
The full extent of the weather-related damage in Texas and other states on Wednesday was not immediately clear. But more than 37,000 customers in Texas were without power early Thursday morning, and more than 300 flights departing from or landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were canceled on Wednesday. Officials in Rusk County, near the Louisiana border, said that more than 100 vehicles there had been damaged by a hailstorm.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Twitter that he had mobilized urban search and rescue teams, boat squads and other emergency resources to deal with the storms’ effects. A tornado watch for parts of Texas and Louisiana expired at 1 a.m. on Thursday.
On Tuesday, similar weather in Texas produced a tornado in Dickens County, about 260 miles northwest of Dallas. A tornado was also reported earlier this month in the northeastern city of Tyler.
In recent months, a number of severe storms have barreled across the southeastern United States. In March, nine people were killed when a powerful storm system swept unleashed wind, rain and flooding across the region.
More than 450 tornadoes have been confirmed across the United States this year. So far, each monthly total has exceeded the historical average based on data from 1991 to 2020, according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, a nonprofit in Washington that tracks extreme weather.
April Rubin contributed reporting.
