SAN ANTONIO – High water rescues, downed tree limbs and homes struck by lightning kept first responders on their toes Monday.
As night fell, a teenaged boy had to be rescued from a drainage field that turned into a swimming pool on the west side, near Noriega and Greyrock.
Firefighters say he was trying to cross from his neighborhood to his grandmother’s, and got caught on a small island with water rushing all around him.
Earlier, viewers sent our StormTracker 4 team videos of a driving rain they could hardly drive in during evening rush hour.
Rain and hail pounded the Huebner Oaks area, ripping out a sign, uprooting trees and crashing a giant limb smack on top of a pickup and an SUV.
"The bad storm was over in about thirty seconds,” James Brodhead, the owner of the pickup truck, said.
He didn’t see it happen. He had just parked the pickup and popped inside Starbuck’s for a cup of coffee.
"There was a commotion in the front of the store and I didn't know what it was,” Brodhead said. “Everyone was looking out at the trees that had fallen over in the parking lot."
From a tree crash, to a lightning strike, nearby at a home off Prue Road near Huebner.
"Occupants heard a clasp of thunder and felt something hit the house,” Robert Elizondo with San Antonio Fire Department said.
The bolt hit the attic, sparking a fire that caused about $30,000 of damage to the structure.
The two people inside immediately got out – smart thinking, fire crews said.
"They immediately knew lightning had struck their house,” Elizondo said.
Lots of damage, but the owner of the smashed pickup put it in perspective.
“It’s a freak thing,” Brodhead said.
Despite all the damage on the northwest side, no one was hurt.
