LCRA opens floodgates, closes portions of lakes LBJ, Marble Falls
Lower Colorado River Authority crews have opened three floodgates at Mansfield Dam at the head of Lake Travis to ease the heavy flow of stormwater runoff that has pummeled the Highland Lakes area for the past several days. Courtesy photo
CONNIE SWINNEY • STAFF WRITER
MARBLE FALLS — Lower Colorado River Authority officials launched floodgate operations and closed portions of the Highland Lakes to recreational traffic May 31 because of increased flows caused by stormwater runoff.
Floodgate operations are underway at dams, including Buchanan, Wirtz and Max Starcke on the upper end of the Highland Lakes, and Mansfield and Tom Miller on the lower end.
The waterways began rising during Memorial Day weekend as heavy rainfall in the Brownwood area, 100 miles northwest of Marble Falls, generated significant inflows.
On May 28, LCRA crews began hydroelectric generation at Buchanan, Mansfield and Tom Miller dams.
A day later, crews opened floodgates at Buchanan, Mansfield and Tom Miller.
Then, on May 31, crews opened a second floodgate at Buchanan Dam.
As a result of the swift-moving water, officials closed “until further notice” portions of lakes LBJ and Marble Falls as well as Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake to recreational use.
The temporarily closed areas in the upper Highland Lakes are on Lake LBJ from Lighthouse Drive to Wirtz Dam and Lake Marble Falls from the U.S. 281 bridge to Max Starcke Dam.
“We have had several days of fairly intense rainfall on the back of a lot of rainfall last week,” said LCRA spokesman John Hofmann. “We’re very concerned about flooding.”
“The flows all around us are going to high for just a little bit.
People need to use extreme caution, especially in the areas adjacent to these increased flows,” he added. “The upper end of Inks Lake is a great example of that or immediately downstream of the dam at Inks on the upper portion of Lake LBJ.”
As of June 1, two floodgates remained open at Buchanan Dam.
Inks Dam, next in the chain, has no floodgates, but officials reported a substantial amount of water flowing over the spillway.
To ease potential flooding downstream, crews partially opened one floodgate at Wirtz Dam, which creates Lake LBJ.
At Max Starcke Dam, one gate is fully opened, while a second gate remains partially opened.
Three gates are open at Mansfield Dam, the structure that creates Lake Travis.
“We have projections of more rainfall coming this week,” Hofmann said. “There are some totals that suggest somewhere around 4 to 5 inches of rain more than what we’ve already received, somewhere in the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday timeframe, so we’re not through this.”
Those who violate the bans on the waterways face having watercraft impounded by LCRA rangers.
The watercraft ban on Lady Bird Lake and Lake Austin could be lifted by June 3.
In the meantime, officials ask residents to take precautions.
“Everybody needs to pay very close attention to what’s going on in their surrounding area. They need to stay plugged into their local weather information provider,” Hofmann said. “Use all the means of information that they can get access to, especially pay close attention to their emergency managers to the extent that there are any kind of notices or evacuations that need to take place because of low-lying or flood-prone areas.”
To sign up for weather and disaster alerts, go to warncentraltexas.org. To monitor floodgate operations, go to lcra.org.
connie@thepicayune.com
