San Antonio officials say two people appear to have died in the severe storm that battered the region late Friday, toppling trees and utility lines, causing widespread power outages and dumping heavy rain on streets and waterways.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said Sunday morning that a 46-year-old homeless woman had died in the storm, and acting Police Chief Jesus “Jesse” Salame Jr. said later that a man in his 50s had also perished.
Salame said the woman was one of two people who were swept away in a torrent of storm runoff in the 500 block of Quincy Street, near the elevated lanes of Interstate 35 in downtown San Antonio.
He said emergency personnel searched the area and determined that one of the two people had escaped, but they could not account for the second. She was found dead Saturday night, he said.
“The medical examiner has the case, and they are looking into all the facts and circumstances surrounding her death. Right now, it is being investigated as a drowning,” Salame said during a news conference Sunday morning.
The acting chief said the second apparent storm-related death occurred at Woodlawn Lake. He said the remains of a man in his 50s were found there Sunday morning.
Salame also said that at the request of City Council members Sukh Kaur and Teri Castillo, the San Antonio Police Department had increased its evening and overnight patrols in neighborhoods hard hit by power outages.
Salame said Kaur’s District 1 and Castillo’s District 6 had suffered some of the worst storm damage. District 1 encompasses downtown and parts of the North Side. District 5 is in the Southwest Side.
Salame said SAPD officers were maintaining “a visible presence around homes that were unoccupied” in those council districts and would continue to do so until CPS Energy has restored power to all customers.
As of noon Sunday, CPS Energy reported that 15,400 of its 987,000-plus customers were still without power.