The Hill Country Mile resembled an icy ghost town throughout the day last Thursday before showing signs of life again on Friday as inclement winter weather invaded the area and officials across the state urged residents to stay home. However, Kendall County and its encompassed cities fared well compared to last year’s February storm.
In Kendall County as a whole, there were no major, ice-related accidents reported or utility outages, according to county Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Fincke.
“It was fairly quiet,” Fincke said. “There were some accidents but nothing major. … I appreciate people heeding notice and kind of staying home and being careful.”
According to the National Weather Service Office in New Braunfels, the station that tracks Boerne and Kendall County weather, a cold front came through the Hill Country overnight Wednesday into Thursday, bringing with it the coldest temperatures of the season and a blast of icy precipitation.
The precipitation started as a cold rain but turned to ice before daybreak Thursday as temperatures plummeted from a 57-degree high on Wednesday to a Thursday low of 21 degrees. The temperature did not top the freezing mark during the day on Thursday.
On Friday, the thermometer topped the freezing mark for a few hours in the afternoon, hitting a high of 37 degrees. Friday night’s 19-degree low was the first of three consecutive nights when the temperature dipped to about 20 degrees.
The temperature rebounded a little on Saturday as 46 degrees was reached. On Sunday, Boerne topped out at 55 degrees.
As far as precipitation, only 0.05 of an inch was recorded at Boerne Stage Field on Wednesday night followed by almost a quarter-inch on Thursday, according to the NWS. The icy precipitation froze on windshields, trees and plants and on certain bridges and overpasses.
The only utility issue reported to the county was a gas leak at Town and Country Rehabilitation Center on North Main Street, which Fincke said Boerne city staff handled. It is notable considering the impact the winter storm had on water utilities last February where downtown Comfort was left without water for several days when a main line burst.
However, it was determined the Town and Country leak was not weather-related.
Boerne, Fair Oaks Ranch and Kendall County all closed their public facilities in the wake of the weather advisory, and the Boerne Independent School District and the Geneva School of Boerne shuttered their classrooms and administrative buildings Thursday and Friday.
According to Boerne Communications Director Chris Shadrock, there were 235 calls into the Boerne Police Department Thursday, but no major accidents were reported or worked by Boerne officers.
In preparation for the icy storm, city crews pre-loaded dump trucks with sand and gravel in preparation for iced city streets. Shadrock said by Thursday morning the crews were driving around town applying the mixture to bridges and elevated culverts, and the mixture will be collected by a street sweeper this week.
Also, Shadrock said city utilities staff worked to prep all utilities systems in the city, including electric, water, wastewater, natural gas and reclaimed water infrastructure, before the storm struck late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
“Our electric crews discovered a potential issue on Wednesday morning and were able to repair it,” Shadrock said. “This repair did lead to a brief power outage lasting about 20 minutes since the work could not be done while the system was energized. …
“As a result of our yearround work and preparation our utilities operated as normal with no issues – with the exception of a single outage Friday morning impacting 60 customers as a result of a branch falling on a power line. Power was restored in approximately 90 minutes.”
There was a power outage that struck downtown Boerne Wednesday afternoon, leaving the city’s busiest roads and intersections without operating traffic signals, but information from the Lower Colorado River Authority confirmed the incident was not related to the incoming winter storm.
“Preliminary indications are the power outage was caused by a piece of equipment that failed, causing power to be out in parts of Boerne from 2:34 pm to 3:15 p.m. Wednesday,” a statement from LCRA issued that afternoon read. “This issue was not related to the colder weather expected to arrive in the area later this week.”
For those in need of a place to stay warm, the Patrick Heath Public Library staff worked with Hill Country Family Services to provide a warming station in the library’s community room Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Additionally, Hill Country Family Services provided blankets, coats, socks, tarps and other supplies to those in need, and the library offered warm drinks.
The city of Fair Oaks Ranch was much more resilient during the freeze this year. While there were several accidents reported both east and south of Interstate 10 on Dietz-Elkhorn Road, there seemed to be no major accidents reported, and it seems to have been an isolated area of the city.
Joanna Merrill, FOR human resources and communications director, said utilities remained functioning in the city for the most part. She said there was one incident where a frozen limb was touching a power line and caught fire, causing a couple of houses to lose power, but the issue was addressed quickly.
Additionally, Merrill said there was an issue with the city’s wastewater treatment plant losing power, but the site has a backup generator, so no customers lost service.
“It went pretty smoothly,” Merrill said. “We did have some crew members who stayed overnight to monitor just in case, but it went really well. … I think we were pretty prepared from last time.”
There were published reports stating a portion of westbound Interstate 10 between Boerne and Leon Springs was closed Thursday night because of an accident caused by the icy conditions.
During the storm last year, residents to the south of FOR who were on the San Antonio Water Systems utility lost water for several days. During that event, city staff provided potable and nonpotable water to the residents impacted by the outage. No loss of water was reported by city staff this year.
PHOTO CUTLINES:
For the second straight February, Boerne, Kendall County, Fair Oaks Ranch and the Hill Country were hit with a winter storm that resulted in frigid temperatures and dangerous weather conditions. Boerne’s Main Street resembled a ghost town on Thursday afternoon as freezing rain created icicles or clear coatings of ice on business awnings, streets, Wild Bill Hickok’s nose and on trees and bushes throughout the area. A few people braved the wintry conditions during the brunt of the storm, including Francisco and Maria Arellano. Star photos by Zachary-Taylor Wright and Keith E. Domke
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