Runaway Border Patrol Surveillance Balloon Travels 600 Miles Across Texas Before Crashing

A large balloon used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for surveillance along the Texas border that broke free on March 3, and traveled about 600 miles to the north as high winds swept through the state that crashed is shown in Quinlan, Texas, on March 5, 2025. KDFW via AP

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) surveillance balloon broke free from its tether in South Padre Island, Texas, and traveled around 600 miles north before crashing in Hunt County, east of Dallas, after the area was struck by high winds earlier this week.

The CBP in Amarillo, Texas, said the balloon incident started on March 3, at around 3:15 p.m. CST, when the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) broke loose during what CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) called a “severe wind event” on South Padre Island.