Austin officials report one death, widespread outages after fast-moving storm

Austin city officials said a fast-moving severe storm that moved through the northern part of the city last night produced intense rain, hail and high winds, caused flash flooding and widespread power outages, and resulted in the death of an adult.

City Manager T.C. Broadnax and department directors briefed reporters at a news conference, saying crews across Austin were conducting damage assessments and restoration work while residents were urged to avoid floodwaters and report hazards.

The storm produced about 2 to 3 inches of rain within roughly 30 minutes in portions of the city and recorded peak wind gusts of about 77 miles per hour, Austin Energy interim General Manager Stewart Riley said. At the peak of the outage incident, roughly 72,500 Austin Energy customers were without power; as of the 10 a.m. assessment reported at the news conference, more than 93% of customers had power and roughly 38,000 customers remained without service.

“We know being without power is incredibly challenging, especially when it could stretch across multiple days, and we will not stop working until everyone is restored,” Riley said. He said crews had identified at least 104 broken poles…