Storms Wreak Havoc On Austin Road, Air Travel (Video)

AUSTIN, TX — Flights bound for Austin were delayed or canceled outright, roadways were littered with wrecks and low-water crossings were closed to traffic as inclement weather swept through a wide swath of Texas on Wednesday.

Several airline flights coming in from Dallas and elsewhere were canceled outright, primarily by Southwest Airlines, as parts of the region were battered with heavy rain and hail. Travelers wree being urged to check on the status of their flights before heading out to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport by clicking here.

The cancellations were prompted by heavy rain pounding Dallas in a storm front expected to reach Central Texas by Wednesday afternoon. Dramatically illustrating the Dallas downpour, cell phone video emerged on Wednesday showing cars in flood waters inside a Love Field Airport parking garage.

Back in Austin, medics were kept busy responding to several traffic accidents exacerbated by slippery road conditions. Along the 4000 block of South Capital of Texas Highway southbound, a man was extricated from his vehicle after crashing into a utility pole. Austin-Travis County EMS medics transported the patient, a man in his 30s, to St. David's South Medical Center with potentially serious injuries, officials said via Twitter.

"Roadways are slick, #SlowDown & #ArriveAlive," medics added after reporting on the incident. Medics reiterated that plea in alerting of imminent flash flooding conditions.

Meanwhile, officials started blocking access to roads throughout the region that are low-water crossings. Such roads invariably are overrun with high water, making them potentially deadly when motorists try to pass through them while misjudging their water levels.

Related story: Austin Area Under Flash Flood Watch All Day Wednesday

As of 11:45 a.m., 15 such crossings were closed. One of those closed low-water crossings is in Round Rock at Summit St @ Brushy Creek/Memorial Park. Another crossing in Travis County, along the 7100 block of Ross Road, also was closed even before the expected brunt of the storm had arrived in earnest. Forecasters predicted heavy rains with possible hail to descend on the Austin region by the afternoon.

Refer to ATXfloods.com for a list of low-water crossing closures. To check on road conditions, visit DriveTexas.org.