Large hail, severe thunderstorms hit both sides of Austin metro Thursday night

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (Talk1370.com) -- Severe thunderstorms wreaked havoc across parts of the Austin metro Thursday night, including one storm that reportedly dropped hail as large as six inches at one point.

Severe storms mostly split the city of Austin, moving either south through Hays and Caldwell Counties, or to the north through Williamson County.

National Weather Service storm reports included a report of 6.25-inch hail from a storm spotter near Johnson City in Blanco County - a size similar to a CD or DVD. That same storm continued to move southeast into Hays County, dropping smaller hail and bringing strong winds to Wimberley and prompting a Tornado Warning before moving into San Marcos.

Reports of hen egg and tennis ball sized hail came in from parts of Wimberley and San Marcos, particularly at the outlet malls along Interstate 35.

Many reports of downed trees and power lines in San Marcos led to significant power outages; at the peak of the storm, about 12,000 San Marcos Electric customers were without power. That number was down to about 1,600 Friday morning; in Caldwell County, Bluebonnet Electric was reporting about 1,200 customers without power Friday morning.

Strong and severe storms also moved through Williamson County to the north, with reports of golf ball sized hail in Taylor and smaller hail in Georgetown. Oncor reported about 1,000 of its customers without power in Williamson County Friday morning.