Marble Falls crews rescue two men stranded in high water
FROM STAFF REPORTS
SPICEWOOD — A volunteer fire crew rescued a father and son fishing on a sand bar May 14 after swift water began rising around them on a stretch of the Colorado River between Shaffer Bend Recreation area and the Double Horn subdivision, officials said.
“They crossed to the other side of the lake (from north to the south),” said Assistant Fire Chief Mike Phillips of the Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department. “We assume that the (Lower Colorado River Authority) was generating. (The two people) reported the water started rising at a very quick rate.”
Max Starcke Dam, located at the head of Lake Marble Falls and several miles west of the rescue, does offer hydroelectric operations.
The Highland Lakes experienced some runoff caused by 1- to 3-inches of rain overnight May 13-14. LCRA periodically releases water from Max Starcke Dam following rain.
The father, in his 40s, and his 19-year-old son — both from the Bertram area — had parked their pickup on the Shaffer Bend (north) side of the river, waded to a sandbar and soon watched water rise, Phillips said.
They were able to call for help.
“When we got there, they were not in immediate danger. We saw the water had peaked out,” Phillips said of the call made at about 8:30 p.m. “I called a citizen [nearby] who loaned us a boat for the rescue.”
No injuries were reported.
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