Posted: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:00 AM - 15,176 Readers

By: Patrick George

Overnight storms brought between one and four inches of rain across Central Texas, National Weather Service forecasters said this morning, giving us a brief reprieve from triple-degree heat.

Forecaster Clay Anderson said Camp Mabry recorded 2.01 inches of rain last night, while Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recorded 1.34 inches. Besides one rainy day in May, this is the most rain we’ve seen since January, Anderson said.

Northwest and southern Travis County saw as much as 2.5 inches, and areas near Burnet and Llano counties got as much as three to four inches overnight, he said.

About 200 Austin Energy customers are without power as of 11:30 a.m. About 150 of the outages are around 34th and Jefferson Streets, and the rest of the outages are spread across town, utility spokesman Ed Clark said.

Clark said power is expected to be fully restored by 2 p.m., though the utility continues to receive reports of lost power. Customers without power should call 322-9100, Clark said.

“Lightning and wind and tree limbs falling as a result of the wind have been the chief culprit,” Clark said. Fuses have been damaged and need to be replaced, he added.

About 5,000 customers were without power at the peak of the outages about 3 a.m., Clark said.

But don’t expect the rain to put much of a dent in the drought we’ve been experiencing, Anderson said.

“I don’t know if it will make any difference at all, but everyone will be happy about it,” Anderson said. “It gives us a break from the heat today.”

Highs in the Austin area should top out around 90, a good 10 degrees cooler than it’s been for weeks. But Anderson said the cool temperatures will leave us as fast as they came, with temperatures once again rising around 100 for the weekend.