Strong winds send US Customs blimp nearly 600 miles across Texas
HOUSTON — Strong winds from a recent storm in the south sent a US Customs and Border Protection surveillance blimp flying nearly 600 miles across Texas.
The blimp – resembling a while-hot air balloon - was dislodged from its base in South Padre Island, a beach town on the southern coast of Texas, around 3:15 p.m. local time Monday due to 'a severe wind event,' US Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Operations department said in a statement.
Officials were at first unable to locate the blimp, known as a Tethered Aerostat System, after its communications were lost due to damage from winds. It urged the public to help find it.
On Tuesday, Quinlan Texas Fire and Rescue in Hunt County found the blimp 30 miles east of Dallas, the department said.
The incident is being investigated by Air and Marine Operations, as well as federal, state, and local officials, it added.
CNN has reached out to South Hunt County Fire and Rescue.Tethered Aerostat Systems are used by Customs and Border officials to track 'suspicious air traffic' along the southwest border, according to an official fact sheet. These helium-filled systems are attached to the ground, can be as long as 208.5 feet and can weigh up to 2,400 pounds.Video obtained by CNN affiliate WFAA shows the blimp rotating downwards from the sky, before it crashed and folded over a power pole.Clay Hinton told WFAA he was initially confused about what the big white body of material could be.'Finally, I was like what is this? It's not a hot air balloon!' he said, adding he was surprised when federal agents had arrived to look at the aerostat.A family living near the site of the crash told WFAA the blimp hit their home on the way down, damaging their roof.'It's a lot of missing pieces, broken pieces,' 9-year-old Axel said in a video interview with WFAA. 'When I looked outside, I was about to cry.'Geneva Larsey, who lives nearby, told WFAA 'four or five wrecker trucks' came to collect the balloon.'We're in a small town that no one comes to,' Larsey said. 'Who would have thought a little balloon would crash here?'South Padre Island, where the blimp was dislodged, recorded max gusts over 30 mph on Monday ahead of a massive storm that swept through the central and southern US, bringing a multitude of effects, including tornadoes, gusty winds, a notable dust storm, and fire weather.In Texas, severe thunderstorms Tuesday caused significant damage to buildings and gusty winds brought down trees and power lines across several cities, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area.Several wildfires erupted across central Texas on Tuesday as the strong winds and dry air exacerbated fire conditions. Nearly all of these have since been contained.However, another round of dry air and gusty winds on Thursday poses the threat of fire conditions with fire weather expected from central New Mexico to western Texas. Across the region, winds could gust to 65 mph.Red flag warnings are in effect Thursday for over 3 million people across western Texas, much of New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas and western Oklahoma. — CNN
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
22-05-2025
- Saudi Gazette
Indian plane makes safe landing despite significant damage during hailstorm
DELHI — An Indian passenger jet that encountered a hailstorm mid-flight and left passengers terrified, made a safe landing, despite significant damage to the plane. The IndiGo plane was traveling from Indian capital New Delhi to Srinagar, the largest city in India-administered Kashmir on Wednesday – a flight that typically takes about an hour and a half – when it was met with 'a sudden hailstorm en route,' according to a statement from IndiGo. 'The flight and cabin crew followed established protocol, and the aircraft landed safely in Srinagar,' it said. The statement did not specify what damage the plane encountered but photographs of the aircraft show a large hole in the nose. Delhi experienced widespread rain, lightning, and thunderstorms Wednesday night. Video taken by a passenger, Sheikh Samiullah, and posted to X shows widespread panic and fear the moment the plane encountered the hail, causing severe turbulence that rattled the inside of the aircraft. People can be heard screaming and children can be heard crying as the plane shakes violently. The flight was going smoothly and passengers assumed they would arrive in Srinagar within 30 minutes when the pilot made a fasten seatbelt announcement, Samiullah told the Press Trust of India news agency. 'There was so much turbulence that I thought it was my last flight. Everyone thought we would crash. It was such a traumatic experience,' he said. 'I am a frequent flier, but I've never experienced anything like this. We are very thankful to the pilot for landing safely.' Samiullah described his shock at seeing the plane's condition when he got off. 'After we deboarded and saw the plane's damage, it was even more traumatic,' he said. 'I wish no one goes through an experience like this.' Incidents like these are not uncommon, said Mary Schiavo, a CNN transportation analyst and former inspector general of the US Department of Transportation. Hail can cause significant damage to planes, including breaching the nose and damaging the windshield, but despite this, many planes have been able to land safely, she said. Sometimes bad weather doesn't show up on the radar 'and you're in the hail before you know it,' Shiavo said. 'There have been other planes where the hail has beaten the nose in or beaten pieces of the nose off. And while (the plane) can lose equipment, the important thing is they still have the control.' Shiavo described how the pilot would have had to manually fly the plane in a 'stressful' situation. 'The performance of the plane will be impacted (by the hail). They have to make sure they keep it under control,' she said. 'And of course, they have to worry if more can go wrong other than losing the nose... It'll be a very stressful event but it's amazing the planes... can make it through that.' Incidents of severe turbulence have made headlines in the past, including one from Singapore Airlines last year, when a passenger died and more than 70 were injured. — CNN
Saudi Gazette
06-03-2025
- Saudi Gazette
Strong winds send US Customs blimp nearly 600 miles across Texas
HOUSTON — Strong winds from a recent storm in the south sent a US Customs and Border Protection surveillance blimp flying nearly 600 miles across Texas. The blimp – resembling a while-hot air balloon - was dislodged from its base in South Padre Island, a beach town on the southern coast of Texas, around 3:15 p.m. local time Monday due to 'a severe wind event,' US Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Operations department said in a statement. Officials were at first unable to locate the blimp, known as a Tethered Aerostat System, after its communications were lost due to damage from winds. It urged the public to help find it. On Tuesday, Quinlan Texas Fire and Rescue in Hunt County found the blimp 30 miles east of Dallas, the department said. The incident is being investigated by Air and Marine Operations, as well as federal, state, and local officials, it added. CNN has reached out to South Hunt County Fire and Aerostat Systems are used by Customs and Border officials to track 'suspicious air traffic' along the southwest border, according to an official fact sheet. These helium-filled systems are attached to the ground, can be as long as 208.5 feet and can weigh up to 2,400 obtained by CNN affiliate WFAA shows the blimp rotating downwards from the sky, before it crashed and folded over a power Hinton told WFAA he was initially confused about what the big white body of material could be.'Finally, I was like what is this? It's not a hot air balloon!' he said, adding he was surprised when federal agents had arrived to look at the aerostat.A family living near the site of the crash told WFAA the blimp hit their home on the way down, damaging their roof.'It's a lot of missing pieces, broken pieces,' 9-year-old Axel said in a video interview with WFAA. 'When I looked outside, I was about to cry.'Geneva Larsey, who lives nearby, told WFAA 'four or five wrecker trucks' came to collect the balloon.'We're in a small town that no one comes to,' Larsey said. 'Who would have thought a little balloon would crash here?'South Padre Island, where the blimp was dislodged, recorded max gusts over 30 mph on Monday ahead of a massive storm that swept through the central and southern US, bringing a multitude of effects, including tornadoes, gusty winds, a notable dust storm, and fire Texas, severe thunderstorms Tuesday caused significant damage to buildings and gusty winds brought down trees and power lines across several cities, including the Dallas-Fort Worth wildfires erupted across central Texas on Tuesday as the strong winds and dry air exacerbated fire conditions. Nearly all of these have since been another round of dry air and gusty winds on Thursday poses the threat of fire conditions with fire weather expected from central New Mexico to western Texas. Across the region, winds could gust to 65 flag warnings are in effect Thursday for over 3 million people across western Texas, much of New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas and western Oklahoma. — CNN
Saudi Gazette
12-02-2025
- Saudi Gazette
More than 100 trapped fishermen rescued from ice floe in Russia's Far East
MOSCOW — More than 100 fishermen were rescued from a sheet of floating ice that drifted into waters off Russia's remote Far East, authorities said 139 fishermen became stranded when a 10-meter (32 feet) crack formed an ice floe that broke away from the island of Sakhalin and floated into the Sea of Okhotsk between Russia and Japan, emergency services said on shared by responders showed fishermen being escorted away amid strong winds in an operation that involved an Mi-8 helicopter and a Khivus hovercraft, which can travel on ice and everyone was happy to see rescue workers, emergency services said 'some extreme sports enthusiasts' among those trapped on the ice had refused to leave without a is not uncommon for people to become trapped on ice floes in Sakhalin, a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) strip of land that is Russia's largest February, more than 80 fishermen were rescued after an ice floe broke away from shore near the village of Starodubskoye. And in 2020, more than 500 ice fishermen were rescued from an ice floe near Mordvinov Bay on Sakhalin, according to state-run news agency RIA Novosti. — CNN
