Downtown San Antonio Church Roof Collapses, VIA Bus Gets Stuck in Flooding During Thursday's Storms

Thursday night’s severe weather rained down misfortune on San Antonio, from structural damage to a historic building to multiple floodwater rescues.

Intermittent thunderstorms and heavy winds are likely to blame for a roof collapse at Travis Park United Methodist Church early Friday morning. Firefighters responded to the downtown church just after midnight and found that parts of the roof and a fire escape had fallen. According to KSAT, a pipe broke on the third floor, resulting in flooding inside most of the building.

No injuries were reported at the Travis Park UMC. Such may not have been the case had the church been housing a large number of asylum seekers, which it’s done in conjunction with the city’s Migrant Assistance Center.

While authorities are not yet attributing the catastrophe to the bad weather, the church’s damages come a month after high winds caused scaffolding to collapse onto St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

In addition to the downtown church, firefighters responded to a call about a VIA bus stuck in the floodwaters close to Castle Hills. According to multiple reports, eight people had to be rescued at a “risky” high-water crossing near Dreamland Drive.

No one was injured, though it took first responders four hours to rescue all of the passengers through the bus’ roof hatch.

Authorities were unsure how the bus ended up in the scenario, KSAT reports. Police said there was no signage in the area warning about the high-water crossing. An investigation will determine whether the VIA driver “made a bad call.”

Aside from the VIA incident, Thursday’s weather also resulted in multiple road closures throughout Bexar County. As of Friday morning, some thoroughfares remain closed.

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