A large balloon used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for surveillance along the Texas border broke free and traveled about 600 miles (966 kilometers) to the north before crashing as high winds swept through the state, officials said.
On Monday afternoon, the aerostat system broke free from its tether during a “severe wind event” on South Padre Island and contact was lost, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. The agency said it was located the next day in Hunt County, about 30 miles east of Dallas .
“All the neighbors were over there. Nobody knew what it was,” Clay Hinton told WFAA television station…