{"id":300848,"date":"2026-05-20T04:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/300848\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T04:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:37:08","slug":"severe-thunderstorms-cause-widespread-power-outages-downed-trees-across-central-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/300848\/","title":{"rendered":"Severe thunderstorms cause widespread power outages, downed trees across Central Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Severe thunderstorms moving through Central Texas Tuesday night left thousands without power as strong winds snapped trees, caused flooding and triggered severe weather warnings across the region.<\/p>\n<p>A Severe Thunderstorm Warning remained in effect through 11:30 p.m. for much of Central Texas, excluding Caldwell and Fayette counties.<\/p>\n<p>At 8:59 p.m., CBS Austin Meteorologist Avery Tomasco warned a new severe thunderstorm warning included all of Travis County and most of Hays County, with the potential for damaging 70 mph wind gusts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPower outages and tree damage are likely. The wind will hit before the rain does,\u201d Tomasco posted on social media. \u201cGet inside and have necessary electronics charged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the evening, Tomasco warned the primary threat would be damaging straight-line winds exceeding 60 mph, along with pockets of quarter-size hail.<\/p>\n<p>Viewer video from Georgetown showed heavy rain and intense winds moving through the area as storms pushed across Williamson County.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/pflugerville-isd-superintendent-responds-to-parent-concerns-after-school-closure-vote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ALSO| Pflugerville ISD superintendent responds to parent concerns after school closure vote<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Power outages quickly mounted throughout the night.<\/p>\n<p>As of 10:30 p.m., <a href=\"https:\/\/stormcenter.oncor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Oncor reported about 11,222 customers without power <\/a>across the CBS Austin viewing area, including roughly 2,000 outages in Williamson County. Crews were working to restore power in Georgetown and Round Rock.<\/p>\n<p>By 10:37 p.m., <a href=\"https:\/\/outagemap.austinenergy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Austin Energy reported<\/a> 52 active outages affecting 5,490 customers across Austin.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"{p}By 10:37 p.m., Austin Energy reported 52 active outages affecting 5,490 customers across Austin. (Photo: Austin Energy Outage Map){\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6c4c890a-182b-4301-9d08-b0c96aa0bdf1-Screenshot20260519223950.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>By 10:37 p.m., Austin Energy reported 52 active outages affecting 5,490 customers across Austin. (Photo: Austin Energy Outage Map)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/map.mypec.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pedernales Electric Cooperative also reported <\/a>approximately 4,759 customers without power as storms moved through the Hill Country and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n<p>The storms also brought reports of snapped tree limbs, localized flooding and hazardous driving conditions across Central Texas.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tree in Round Rock struck down by lightning. (Photo: Monica Guerrero)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/852ce123-1f22-479d-9218-6bb915db0002-LIGHTNINGTREEROUNDROCKMUSTCREDITMONICAGUERRERO.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Tree in Round Rock struck down by lightning. (Photo: Monica Guerrero)<\/p>\n<p>Officials are urging residents to avoid flooded roads and stay indoors while severe weather moves through the region.<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>CBS Austin is encouraging viewers to submit storm photos and videos through <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/chimein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Chime In<\/a> as crews continue monitoring conditions overnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Severe thunderstorms moving through Central Texas Tuesday night left thousands without power as strong winds&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-300848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}