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A severe thunderstorm hit the Hill Country Friday evening, but the holiday weekend forecast is looing up. (Pexels)
A severe thunderstorm hit Austin Friday evening, bringing sheets of rain wind gusts of up to 67 miles per hour and isolated flooding at some low water crossings.
sheets of rainfall. much wind. hope our newly planted perennials survive. Got enough of digging out damaged plants after the February freeze.
— Kay Bell (@taxtweet) May 28, 2021
The lovely little storm that game through last night. Most intense thunderstorm I’ve seen in a year or more. pic.twitter.com/dxTeJbiO8R
— discount taylor (@fmtaylorr) May 29, 2021
Austin-Travis County EMS responded to five water rescues, Austin Energy reported around 30,000 customers lost power and the city's transportation department tweeted that dozens of traffic signals were impacted.
Multiple #ATCEMS, @TC_Fire_Rescue, @STAR_Flight_TC & @AustinFireInfo Rescue assets responding to reported Water Rescue at 8300-blk Linden Rd (00:47); Initial reports of a "submerged vehicle" with unconfirmed reports of a "victim screaming for help". More to Follow...
— ATCEMS (@ATCEMS) May 29, 2021
Austin Energy has restored power to most of those affected. As of 8:40 a.m., around 10,500 customers were still experiencing outages across the city.
District 10 Council Member Alison Alter tweeted that she spoke with COO Sidney Jackson Saturday morning. "They mobilized a fresh set of crews at 5 am and if the storm stays away they are optimistic for the rest of us," she wrote.
I just spoke with @austinenergy COO. They worked thru the night and restored 2/3rds of the outages. They mobilized a fresh set of crews at 5 am and if the storm stays away they are optimistic for the rest of us. They are down to areas with hundreds out rather than thousands.
— Council Member Alison Alter (@ALTERforATX) May 29, 2021
The Central Texas region has a history of Memorial Day storms, including a 2015 flooding event that saw up to 13 inches fall in southern Blanco County, devastating the city of Wimberley.
But this year's forecast is looking up. The severe thunderstorm warning is no longer in effect, and this morning's rain is expected to give way to sunny skies this afternoon, according to local weather reports.
Thankfully Central Texas will likely see less than 1" of rain for the rest of the holiday weekend, helping swollen creeks & streams recover. https://t.co/siEhAqamjf
— Chikage Windler WX (@ChikageWeather) May 29, 2021
The long weekend forecast is also brighter than last night's active weather would suggest, with forecasted temperatures in the mid-80s and the possibility of spotty showers in the afternoons.
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Popular
(Tesla)
Giga Texas, the massive Tesla factory in southeast Travis County is getting even bigger.
The company filed with the city of Austin this week to expand its headquarters with a new 500,000-square-foot building. The permit application notes “GA 2 and 3 expansion,” which indicates the company will make two general assembly lines in the building.
More details about the plans for the building are unclear. The gigafactory has been focused on Model Y production since it opened in April, but the company is also aiming for Cybertruck production to kick off in mid-2023.
While there is room for expansion on the 3.3 square miles of land Tesla has, this move comes after CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments about the state of the economy and its impact on Tesla.
In a May interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, Musk said the gigafactories in Berlin and Austin are “gigantic money furnaces” and said Giga Texas had manufactured only a small number of cars.
And in June, Musk sent a company wide email saying Tesla will be reducing salaried headcount by 10%, then later tweeted salaried headcount should be fairly flat.
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(Dullnig Ranch Sales)
You’ll have to leave city limits if you’re looking for a proper ranch property like 417 Acres Shipp Lake Ranch, aptly named for its acreage. The property comes built out with three farmhouses, one of which has bedrooms and two bathrooms and two of which have two bedrooms and one bathroom. The nearly untouched property, which surrounds the 100-plus-acre Shipp Lake, has remained in the same family since the early 1900s and gives you picturesque views for the making of a dream home. In fact, the previous owners ran a water ski camp on the property.
Sitting waterside on Lake Austin, this home gives you the unique opportunity to own a piece of the lush Hill Country with views of Mount Bonnell. The 2,750-square foot, three-bedroom, four-bathroom house allows you to integrate indoor and outdoor life with large windows opening to an outdoor living area. The crown jewel is the .76-acre parcel of land that tapers off to your own lakeside resort, featuring an covered outdoor kitchen, fire pit, stone boat house to store your water sports supplies and veranda sitting at the mouth of the water, perfect for an entertainer.
Got dreams of becoming a real Texas rancher? 7814 Brown Cemetery Rd. is the perfect place to start with 40 rolling acres of land and its very own swimming hole. Just east of Austin in Manor, the modest-on-the-outside home clocks at 4,412 square feet with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms, but there are an additional two living structures on the property. The horseshoe-shaped pond sits in the heart of the property and comes equipped with a water slide, diving board and a fishing dock.