"All the neighbors were over there. Nobody knew what it was," Clay Hinton told WFAA television station.
Then, he said, officials began arriving. “I was like, oh, OK it’s not just a tarp or anything," he said. "That’s something!”
A storm system that moved through the Dallas area early Tuesday brought wind gusts over 75 mph (120 kph), and on Monday afternoon wind gusts in South Padre Island and the surrounding area had ranged from around 20 mph (32 kph) to 30 mph (48 kph), National Weather Service officials said.
A fact sheet from Customs and Border Protection says it uses the Tethered Aerostat Radar System to detect low-altitude aircraft. The hull of the aerostat consists of an upper chamber filled with helium, and the lower chamber is a pressurized air compartment.
Customs and Border Protection said it will work with federal, state and local officials to investigate the incident.