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Paul Williams of Morgan’s Point took a picture of the hail that fell in his area Friday evening, using a quarter to gauge the size of it. “Sadly, I had to drive home in the hail; all the safe spots under trees and bridges were already occupied. I think I missed the worst by a few seconds. Hopefully, my car isn’t too badly damaged,” he wrote in the e-mail he sent with the picture.

Sirens in Temple were activated on Friday evening in response to severe weather and the possibility of a tornado, but there were no reports of major damage. Still, we may not have seen the last of it.

Andy Andersen, KCEN-TV chief meteorologist, said we can expect more bad weather, probably later tonight or early Sunday morning.

“This looks like a rain event. We may receive 3 to 4 inches of rain,” Andersen said.

When asked if there is a possibility of a tornado with the severe weather, he said, “There is always a possibility of a tornado at this time of year.”

National Weather Service meteorologists detected a developing tornado near Morgan’s Point Resort moving southeast toward Temple and issued a tornado warning for Temple at 5:53 p.m., Thomas Pechal, Temple Fire and Rescue public information officer, said in a press release.

Emergency management officials monitoring the weather sounded the sirens at 5:55. At 6:10 the sirens were sounded a second time,” Pechal said.

The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was opened and staffed by city officials to monitor conditions during the storm, he said.

“Tornadoes touched down in the Morgan’s Point resort area and two in Belton,” Anderson said.

Radio chatter from emergency services described cars left on the side of the road on I-35 in the northbound lanes. Hail cracked windshields in the downtown area of Temple.

But Temple got off easy with quarter-sized hail. Morgan’s Point Resort reported golf-ball size hailstones.

Marina Morgan of Belton said her yard was covered in hail but nothing was damaged. “I have some limbs on trees that will have to be cut off and a lot of leaves to rake up but that’s about it,” Morgan said.

“After the storm the street was full of people looking for damage,” she said.

Temple Fire and Rescue responded to one traffic accident during the storm.

John Toone, area manager of Oncor Electric Delivery, said at the height of the storm about 900 homes lost power in Morgan’s Point, 200 in Temple and 100 in Salado. Oncor crews were working on restoring power through the evening. “Most areas have their power restored now,” Toone said at about 9 p.m.

Belton Wal-Mart store manager told all customers to go to the center of the store. Betty Glenis was in the store when the warning went out over the public address system. “I just didn’t want to die in Wal-Mart of all places,” she said, laughing. “Honestly, I appreciate that management was watching what was happening outside while we were shopping.”

Brandy Neilson of south Temple said she took cover in a closet and could hear the sounds of hail hitting doors and windows. “I did what I have been told to do but it’s hard to feel safe in a small area,” she said. Neilson intends to buy a weather radio today. “At least if I have a radio I can hear what is happening. I am glad there wasn’t that much damage.

Gary Dewrell, a local storm spotter, followed the storm from Belton to Holland via Little River Academy and then to Milam County. Dewrell said there was a fair amount of hail damage to cars in Holland but it started to taper off in Milam County. “There was probably a couple of inches of rain and small size hail,” Dewrell said.