Potent storms bring flooding rain, hail and a dust storm to the South Plains

First came a line of thunderstorms that dumped heavy rain and prompted a flood advisory in Lubbock.

It also brought strong winds and large hail that triggered severe thunderstorm warnings in the southeastern South Plains, with 1/2-inch size hail and 70-plus mph winds reported.

Then there was a dust storm that created a muddy mess for some and hazardous driving conditions for others, including a number of crashes.

Then there were more strong storms with heavy rains and hail.

And that was all on Monday - just another spring day in Lubbock and the South Plains.

"It's been an interesting day to say the least - starting the day with thunderstorms and hail, then high winds and more thunderstorms - sandwiching it all in their," said William Iwakso, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Lubbock.

By 6 p.m. Monday, about 1.10 inches was reported at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. But that didn't include much of the heavy downpour that was developing over central Lubbock in the evening, prompting the second flood advisory for the city in a day.

Some damage and inconveniences were reported.

By early afternoon, the severe weather had prompted the city of Lubbock to close the Groves library branch on West 19th until further notice. The extent of damage the library branch saw from the heavy rain Monday was not immediately clear, but a crew from SERVPRO was on scene during the afternoon, cleaning up water damage.

A response from city officials says there was some leaking, and the library should be open again on Tuesday.

Bid mid-afternoon, a city official said no flooding was happening at Citizens Tower, which saw extensive damage from flooding that took place after a rain event on Friday, March 12.

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The National Weather Service in Lubbock issued the first flood advisory for Lubbock County until 2:45 p.m Monday, after more than an inch of rain fell on parts of the city in less than an hour.

There were also reports of small, usually pea-size to dime-size, hail across the city, according to the weather service.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for portions of Garza, Crosby, Dickens and Kent counties early Monday afternoon as the line of storms was producing wind gusts upward of 70 mph and quarter-size hail in that area.

By late Monday afternoon, a haboob dust storm formed in New Mexico and moved from west to east across the South Plains, said Iwasko. It gained significant attention as the wall of dust towered over Plains and Denver City, according to weather service social media posts.

A dust storm warning was issued until 6:30 p.m. for much of the southern South Plains including south Lubbock County, although the main part of it stayed in Yoakum, Lynn, Terry and Garza counties.

"Those counties reported visibility as low as a quarter of a mile," Iwasko said.

Forecasters warned motorists to prepare to pull to the side of the road, as visibility could be limited to close to zero. 

Iwasko said the weather service had heard of a number of vehicle accidents, as well as some grass fires, in Yoakum County.

"We also got some wind damage reports because, obviously, that dust was kicked up by some strong winds," he said.

The highest gust in the area was 77 mph at Plains, which also saw sustained winds at 50 mph or greater from 3:50 to 4:40 p.m. Monday.

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"There was damage to smaller sheds, roof damage, blown trampolines, across Yoakum, Terry and Lynn counties," he said.

Although those areas saw some rainfall earlier in the day, the strong winds were able to pick up some of the dirt that was loosened by the rain, adding to the dust storm as it moved through the area.

Much of region saw less than half an inch of rain, but central parts of Lubbock saw upward of an inch, including 1.2 inches on the Texas Tech campus by about 7 p.m.

(Reporter Matt Dotray contributed to this story)