Major Flooding in Texas at LCRA lakes

[Shlbyntro]

Wirtz and Starke Dam flood gates are open at full capacity and all lakes down to/and including Lake Travis are closed. Several boats have already spilled over the dams and Lake Travis is expected to be full by the end of day from still 15ft down with the possibility of flood being opened on Mansfield Dam.

This flooding event is already being compared to the 1935 flood that hit the Capitol/downtown Austin

https://www.kxan.com/weather/forecast/todays-forecast/1010837543

 

[brianwhiteboy]

Not good. Hopefully the rain will let up.

There goes the idea of zip lining at Lake Travis this weekend

 

[Devilman]

Wirtz and Starke Dam flood gates are open at full capacity and all lakes down to/and including Lake Travis are closed. Several boats have already spilled over the dams and Lake Travis is expected to be full by the end of day from still 15ft down with the possibility of flood being opened on Mansfield Dam.

This flooding event is already being compared to the 1935 flood that hit the Capitol/downtown Austin

https://www.kxan.com/weather/forecast/todays-forecast/1010837543

Some crazy footage in that live feed. Saw a couple boats go over the dam already.

Also saw the FM 2900 bridge over the Llano river in Kingsland supposed to have collapsed?

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/video-catastrophic-flooding-on-llano-river

 

[Sandlord]

saw a report that a barge is loose and floating towards the Marble Falls dam.

 

[Shlbyntro]

I forsee a lot of insurance claims happening soon

 

[Shlbyntro]

LCRA just reported that Mansfield dam and Miller dam flood gates will be opened at noon

 

[shunter2005]

Here is video of the bridge collapse. Look at the upper right and click the video. It's 3 hrs long, so go to the 2 hr 18 min mark and watch it from there. The water is hauling ass!!!

https://kutv.com/news/nation-world/video-catastrophic-flooding-on-llano-river-in-texas

 

[Shlbyntro]

A couple pics of Lake Marina where I keep my boat. Up almost 15ft since this morning with another 12ft expected in the next 48hrs

 

[Shlbyntro]

**^Lake Travis Marina^**

 

[Shlbyntro]

And here are some pics of Mansfield Dam from down on Lake Austin

I wanted to go out on the low water crossing for some better pics but the water was already licking over the top

 

[rrrr]

There are many expensive homes on the banks of Lake Austin. It's basically a dammed section of the Colorado, not very wide but miles long. I hope everyone evacuates before it's too late.

Flooding on the Llano River has already wiped out an RV park and killed four people.

 

[copterzach]

Damn. My broker lives in Fredericksburg. Been there all his life. Never seen it like this before


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[Old Texan]

For those not familiar with Lake Austin, there is very little room for rising water and as rrr said, very expensive homes. 8'-10' feet of rise could be disaster. Austin is more like a river than lake as it's long narrow and shallow with homes built right on the shore. Travis is made to rise and hold maybe 50' or more above normal pool, which is a huge amount of water on a lake of it's size, and not release anything of magnitude. Travis is far above normal pool with no choice approaching if rains continue.

 

[Old Texan]

Damn. My broker lives in Fredericksburg. Been there all his life. Never seen it like this before


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Potentially worst since 1935...............

 

[Shlbyntro]

I live near the water on Lake Austin, and everything down here is still pretty safe for everyone except for those who live on the waters edge.

Lake Travis has a full level at 681ft above sea level with a spill way at 714 ft. The lake level is currently at 688 and still rising. LCRA is now saying it could reach 700ft by the end of everything. Lower level houses on lake Travis are already flooding. Fortunately nothing majorly devastating has happened yet this far down stream like it has with our upstream neighbors whose lakes are poring over the spillways in addition to the flood gates being opened. Flood waters are being reported as far away as 1/4mi away from normal shoreline up there

Here's a link to the Hydromet
https://hydromet.lcra.org/

 

[TX Foilhead]

Flooding on the Llano River has already wiped out an RV park and killed four people.

That was last weeks flood, this one started to the east, mostly between Mason and Llano. It peaked just below the record with 3X the flow of last weeks in LLano (290000 cfs).

Damn. My broker lives in Fredericksburg. Been there all his life. Never seen it like this before

The Pederanales had a small flood, the heaviest rain was a little west of Harper and went down the James River twords Mason. The heaviest line was from Kerrville to LLano to Lampasas.

The way things have been going since Labor Day the angle of the heavy rain across the map has remained the same and has drifted south a little with each event. The next flood should go down the Pederanales if things continue the way they’ve been going.

My parents have had a lakehouse on LBJ for +35 years and have lived here for almost 20, today I’ve seen water in places that I never could have imagined it would go.

 

[pronstar]

We’re getting our share up north as well.
9” so far for the month, almost 45” for the year.

It’s dumping hard when it rains 4” in an hour...scary shit when driving.


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[rrrr]

The level swings on Travis are crazy. A lakeside home that belonged to the mother of a friend was flooded twice in 15 years before she finally gave up and sold it. It was an expensive home, right on the end of Graveyard Point.

Some years the water would be several hundred yards from the home, and the house flooded up to the eaves during the big rain year of 1991.

The owner had flood insurance, but after the second time the premiums were sky high and she folded.

In 2015 when the rains came back, Travis was 70' below the conservation pool elevation. In two months, it was 15' above the CPE. That spring there were flooding deaths all over Central and North Texas.

The Blanco River flooding killed more than 30 people. Many were swept away while sleeping, the river came up almost 20 feet in a matter of hours.

A link to the 2015 events:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Texas–Oklahoma_flood_and_tornado_outbreak

 

[Shlbyntro]

Lake Travis is officially 127% full and still rising.

Many marinas including mine have been disconnected from shore because they are now floating so far away from it that most don't have gang ways long enough to reach anymore.

For those of you familiar with the old Carlos N' Charlies' the entire building is currently floating about 15ft anovel it's foundation

 

[2Driver]

We have been looking at homes on Lake LBJ for the past 2 months. Wow poor folks, glad we didn't pull the trigger.

 

[Sandlord]

We have been looking at homes on Lake LBJ for the past 2 months. Wow poor folks, glad we didn't pull the trigger.

We have a friend who lives in Sunrise Beach on Lake LBJ. right where the river enters the lake.
But she left the other day to take generators and fuel to her mom in Panama City, FL.
Talk about luck.

 

[MSum661]

saw a report that a barge is loose and floating towards the Marble Falls dam.

Made a LOT of laps down the track in Marble Falls back in the IHBA days and couldn't believe the water could get that high.
There a bunch of really nice water front homes up and down the river in that area.
Looks bad.

 

[shunter2005]

Just for perspective from what you are seeing today. Here are a couple from Dec. 2011 when Lake Travis was down 55 to 60'. First, I was standing at the very end of LCRA ramp next to Mansfield dam, looking up toward my truck. Normally, I would have been 50+ underwater. Second is looking down the ramp from the top, which is now most probably underwater or will be soon. Last one is looking across the basin toward the Oasis restaurant. The highest points of the rocks are usually 10'-12' under water at full pool. Today, those rocks are 30' below the surface.

 

[2Driver]

What happens when your boat house on Travis is anchored down 60' from shore and the lake practically fills over night?

 

[Shlbyntro]

8 gates now open at Mansfield dam. Water is up another 5 ft since this morning as well

 

[TX Foilhead]

What happens when your boat house on Travis is anchored down 60' from shore and the lake practically fills over night?

View attachment 693394

Depends on how and where the anchors are. I would guess that dock moves from the sidewalk to where it is. The cables from the shore are out and the if the anchors wher it is are locked it should rise. At some point it gets rebelled back to the sidewalk and all 4 cables are lock down to keep it in place.

For the most part the residential docks don’t get loose and cause a lot of problems. The big marinas moving around is the main concern.

This whole thing is far from over, there’s enough water on the way to fill Travis to record levels by the end of the week and more rain coming next week. There’s about 60000 cfs going past my neighborhood on the Colorado Arm of Lake LBJ. It’s not like the flood on the LLano yesterday, but it is taking boats and anything loose with it.

 

[TX Foilhead]

For those who aren’t familiar with the area or the amounts of water that have come by so far. Yesterday Lake Travis added about 400000 acre feet of water. Most of that came through Lake LBJ, at the peak 350000 cfs was flowing through Marble Falls. For those who have been to boat race, the only things that wouldn’t be underwater would be the beer tent.

Lake Havasu holds 619000 acre feet, this could have filled it in a day and a half.

 

[MCnParker]

I just saw this on Facebook, that is a shit ton of water moving through...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=333034904186712

 

[Shlbyntro]

Well good thing the beer tent is safe !

Half of my shop staff is down on lake Austin right now rescuing/pulling boats before their docks start letting go.

Because lake Austin is normally a constant level lake, the vast majority of docks down there are pier style construction. With flood gates at Mansfield open they may only be experiencing a few feet of rise, but it is much more destructive due to the type of infastructure on lake austin.

Lake levels have slowed their climb on Travis, but we are still expecting to hit 703ft above sea level by end of day

 

[2Driver]

There was a video of a ski boat (Moomba) going over the dam last night along with a boat house patio roof. Unbelievable and I guess people thought it couldn’t really flood being a constant level lake as one home owner said they never bothered with flood insurance

What a shame and it was on our short list of places to live.

 

[shunter2005]

From the Golaketravis website this morning.

Current water level at 11:00AM - 701.54' (20.54' above full pool levels)

The Highland Lakes watershed is experiencing historic flooding. This is a serious situation and people should take action to protect people and property. Lake Travis is well into its flood pool, and is projected to rise to between 705 to 710 feet above mean sea level by Friday.

 

[TX Foilhead]

I don’t know if there is video or not. One the guys on night shit at Starke watched a pipe dock wash trough and there were visible sparks ad it got wadded up at the bottom.

There’s more rain that should come from the coast and make a slowright turn. The heaviest rainfall is expected to be along the far reaches of the basin over the next 48hrs. Not as much rain and we’ll have more time to see something coming. The bad news is it could add a lot more water to the situation before there has been much reduction in the lake levels.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

I live near the water on Lake Austin, and everything down here is still pretty safe for everyone except for those who live on the waters edge.

Lake Travis has a full level at 681ft above sea level with a spill way at 714 ft. The lake level is currently at 688 and still rising. LCRA is now saying it could reach 700ft by the end of everything. Lower level houses on lake Travis are already flooding. Fortunately nothing majorly devastating has happened yet this far down stream like it has with our upstream neighbors whose lakes are poring over the spillways in addition to the flood gates being opened. Flood waters are being reported as far away as 1/4mi away from normal shoreline up there

Here's a link to the Hydromet
https://hydromet.lcra.org/

So if I'm reading what youre writing correctly, there are houses around the lake that are built BELOW the elevation of the spillway? A municipality allowed that to happen? And people thought that was a good idea?

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[Sandlord]

We heard from our friend on Lake LBJ. everything downstairs, (adirondack chairs, freezer, misc stuff) all floated away. water a few feet deep. Elevator not working. Everything upstairs OK. Bennington on the trailer ok.

 

[Shlbyntro]

So if I'm reading what youre writing correctly, there are houses around the lake that are built BELOW the elevation of the spillway? A municipality allowed that to happen? And people thought that was a good idea?

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Entire neighborhoods including mine, not unlike the neighborhoods just below parker dam.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Entire neighborhoods including mine, not unlike the neighborhoods just below parker dam.

But that is BELOW the dam. What I was asking and how it was worded in the quoted post was are there homes around lake Travis built BELOW the elevation of its spillway? That would be like building a house on HAVASU below the spillway crest elevation of the Parker dam.

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[rrrr]

There was a photo in today's Dallas Morning News of Graveyard Point. The house I mentioned in a post above is about four feet underwater.

 

[TX Foilhead]

Yes there are houses on Lake Travis that are built in the flood pool. You can’t build new houses there any more, but you can remodel existing houses in the flood pool. I’ve never looked, but I would guess those houses are priced a little lower and most people pay cash to avoid having to have flood insurance. I know that’s the case on Lake LBJ. I’ve talked to neighbors who spend half of their house payment on the required flood insurance.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Yes there are houses on Lake Travis that are built in the flood pool. You can’t build new houses there any more, but you can remodel existing houses in the flood pool. I’ve never looked, but I would guess those houses are priced a little lower and most people pay cash to avoid having to have flood insurance. I know that’s the case on Lake LBJ. I’ve talked to neighbors who spend half of their house payment on the required flood insurance.

Yes. And you can still build but you are required to put any living quarters above the flood level. There's a house that was just built by my marina that is on stilts like the houses down at the coast. We were all laughing when it was built because it looked so out of place, he's got about 3ft of water under his house right now so I guess he has the last laugh

 

[4Waters]

Yes. And you can still build but you are required to put any living quarters above the flood level. There's a house that was just built by my marina that is on stilts like the houses down at the coast. We were all laughing when it was built because it looked so out of place, he's got about 3ft of water under his house right now so I guess he has the last laugh

How tall are the stilts?

 

[Shlbyntro]

How tall are the stilts?

The actual house itself is on the 3rd story. There's an outdoor deck at the 2nd level and a semi enclosed garage under the house at ground level

 

[4Waters]

The actual house itself is on the 3rd story. There's an outdoor deck at the 2nd level and a semi enclosed garage under the house at ground level

So the 2nd level has water in it or just the garage?

 

[TX Foilhead]

Yes. And you can still build but you are required to put any living quarters above the flood level. There's a house that was just built by my marina that is on stilts like the houses down at the coast. We were all laughing when it was built because it looked so out of place, he's got about 3ft of water under his house right now so I guess he has the last laugh

There are a couple fo those I our neighborhood. The flood plain was raised a few years ago to the point that you had to be about 5ft above the ground. One is the house on stilts which looks funny next to all the single story houses. The other is a 3 story house with the first floor that look like a regular 2 car garage. It’s actually a game room with roll up glass doors in the back. For insurance purposes its a house on stilts when the doors are open.

Neither hose got water underneath, I think we had a 12ft rise Tuesday.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Just the garage at the moment.

 

[Mandelon]

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Yes there are houses on Lake Travis that are built in the flood pool. You can’t build new houses there any more, but you can remodel existing houses in the flood pool. I’ve never looked, but I would guess those houses are priced a little lower and most people pay cash to avoid having to have flood insurance. I know that’s the case on Lake LBJ. I’ve talked to neighbors who spend half of their house payment on the required flood insurance.

Where people will buy and build houses sometimes blow me away.

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[Shlbyntro]

Where people will buy and build houses sometimes blow me away.

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or does it wash you away?

 

[rrrr]

.

Here's the photo of Graveyard Point on Lake Travis I mentioned above. The house in the center of the photo with a rock retaining wall and standing seam roof used to belong to a friend's mom. The photo was taken by a drone hovering over the lake and looking towards an inlet where the marina is located.

 

[Sherpa]

rrrr posted about the heavy rains and flooding back in 1991. I lived in Austin between 1990 and
1992. I remember seeing alot of homes before, and after/during those floods back then. Dinosauer
point was hit very hard. one house in particular when the lake levels were rising I had seen
a house before the water got to it. and then once it had water to the roof peak. even a month or so
later I launched and motored around on the lake and was able to get near that same house. this time
the roof top visible only 5 feet from peak to water level. just sad for those affected. seeing all these pics brings back all those memories.
sidenote: did alot of skiiing on lake Austin back then. almost bought a nice waterfront home there.
every 2 years they drain the lake entirely. and do maintenance work on the dam below. alot of
the homes there get all their water from the lake... so you gotta deal with that every 2 years.
I miss being in Austin. it was good times.