despite concerns that texas might suffer a direct hit, there was only minor damage reported in southern texas from gilbert's landfall to the south. winds gusted to hurricane force in a few places, but the main impact felt in the state was from beach erosion caused by a 3-5-foot storm surge, and tornadoes, which mainly affected the san antonio area. 29 tornadoes were spawned by gilbert in texas, at least two of which were killer tornadoes. estimates ranged from 30 to more than 60 hitting 25 texas counties. nine of them hit san antonio, where a 59-year-old woman was killed as she slept in her mobile home. 40 tornadoes were spawned in an area from corpus christi and brownsville north to san antonio and west to del rio. in the state, a major disaster was declared on october 5, 1988.