Severe thunderstorms slammed San Antonio Thursday night, causing power outages, flooding and road closures across the city.
Rainfall also contributed to the roof of a downtown church partially collapsing early Friday morning. Officials said the roof and fire escape collapsed around 1 a.m., at the Travis Park United Methodist Church.
Debris from the building spilled into the alley next to the church and the area had to be cordoned until the pastor could make arrangements to clear it.
Some parts of Bexar County saw seven inches of rainfall by Friday morning, the National Weather Service reported. Meteorologist Aaron Treadway said the area around Camp Bullis near Eisenhower Park saw 7.28 inches of rainfall, the Northwest Side saw about three to five inches, while the rest of San Antonio saw about one to two inches.
The rain is supposed to end for San Antonio— until midway next week —so San Antonio will see a sunny and clear weekend, Treadway said. However, there is still a wind advisory in place until 4 p.m. Friday, with wind gusts reaching up to 25 miles per hour.
Bexar County reported 17 road closures during the early morning commute due to flood waters. Alamo Heights, Dreamland, Ira Lee, Lower Seguin at Cibolo Creek, NE Entrance Road, O'Conner, Old Blanco Road, Old Grissom, Old Seguin Road, OP Schnabel, Pinn Road, Rodriguez Master, Sleepy Hollow, Southwell, Vance Jackson at Orsinger, W. Commerce and Weir at Cibolo Creek were all closed as of 6:30 a.m. Friday.
San Antonio Fire had to rescue eight people from a VIA bus after it got trapped in high water near the Dreamland area Thursday night. Officials on scene said the rescue was very risky and that firefighters were having difficulty getting the people out. SAFD was able to rescue everyone safely and without injury.
Crews executed 46 water rescues across the city, said SAFD spokesman Woody Woodward.
SAFD deemed the site unsafe and the pastor was advised to stay out of the building until the building inspector could clear it.
There were no injuries reported.
CPS Energy reported a few thousand people were left without power overnight, a spokeswoman with the company reported. She said the outages were spread across the city throughout the night and crews worked quickly to get power restored.
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