By The Associated Press , 05.14.2006, 10:16 PM
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A strong line of storms with heavy rain, large hail and high winds moved through portions of Texas on Sunday, forcing a dramatic rescue of two teenage boys caught in a flooded drainage ditch.
The teens had stopped to help the driver of a car swept off the road by flash flooding and into a ditch when they were dragged under by the strong currents.
One was sucked into a 70-foot-long drainage pipe and spat out on the other side of the road, said Fire Chief Glen Arthur in Hewitt, a small town just south of Waco.
Firefighters had to pry the other teen out after he became trapped under the vehicle.
The teenagers, the woman driving the car and a firefighter were taken to a local hospital and later released, said Arthur, who would not release their names.
Arthur described the current in the flooded ditch as "overwhelming," sucking the boots and socks off of one of the firefighters.
The National Weather Service said radar indicated 3 1/2 to 4 inches of rain fell in the Hewitt area.
There were no immediate reports of any other injuries from the storms.
A tornado west of Florence in Williamson County damaged a house and tore off a barn roof, said Detective John Foster with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office.
Hail the size of ping-pong balls smashed windows in Kerrville. To the east, Austin and San Antonio escaped the worst of the storms, said Pat McDonald, a National Weather Service meteorologist in New Braunfels.
Storms also pounded Houston, dropping as much as one inch in 15 minutes, said Kent Prochazka, a weather service meteorologist in Houston.
