Golf ball-sized hail and severe thunderstorms hit Borderland

Severe thunderstorms caused havoc throughout the Borderland Saturday.

From Las Cruces to El Paso many experienced heavy rains and some areas saw golf ball-sized hail. The rains even caused some headaches at the University of Texas-El Paso game.

In West Las Cruces many drivers pulled over when heavy rains made for low visibility and windshields got slammed by the hail.

At the Field of Dreams soccer complex Saturday afternoon the green grass turned white with a sheet of ice. Soccer games were canceled as officials said the fields were unusable.

Some parts of the region were hit by hail stones the size of golf balls. Some viewers told ABC-7 the hail damaged their cars.

In the Organ Mountains plumes of smoke were visible for miles.

“It was a very long lightning strike like four or five seconds long,” said an official for the Bureau of Land Management.

Officials told ABC-7 the the strike caused a fire that burning mesquite shrubs and charred road signs. “It hit at a spot were it spot where it had a lot of fuel so it really took off,” an official said.

Fire crews worked to contain the fire.

“We are backfiring so it’s keeping it from going across the road into white sands,” said the BLM official.

In El Paso, a UTEP softball game was canceled due to lightning.

As the evening went on showers grew steadily stronger.

“It just sprinkled a little bit and then it gushed down,” said UTEP fan Alfredo Lopez.

Football fans at the university started a mass exodus before the first half ended.

“It’s cold and it’s wet,” said Ines Lopez.

Many fans wore shorts to the game expecting more mild and drier conditions.

“Clearly I was not dressed right for rain. I was expecting it to be a little sunny but I’ve never seen it rain this hard at a UTEP game before,” Lauren Flores said.

And while many say El Paso doesn’t get enough rain, many said it wasn’t welcomed Saturday

“Today we got a lot of rain. That’s a good thing but us in the stands, we got too wet,” Daniel Acevedo said.

ABC-7s Stormtrack First Alert will continue through Wednesday.