Lake Corpus Christi comes back to life with rising water levels

Lake Corpus Christi is filling up for the first time in years, bringing longtime visitors back and prompting hopes for a busy season at the state park.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — After years of drought left Lake Corpus Christi at historically low levels, the lake is making a comeback.

Recent inflows have caused water levels to rise quickly, and officials at Lake Corpus Christi State Park say the changes are already visible as more water continues flowing into the reservoir.

They say just hours can make a noticeable difference.

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Officials at the state park said water that had been several feet farther from the shoreline earlier in the day had already reached areas that had been dry for years.

For Miguel and Maria Ganceres, the returning water means far more than a fuller lake.

The couple has spent decades visiting Lake Corpus Christi, where their children learned to swim, camp and make lifelong memories.

“Been coming with our children for over 40 years,” Miguel and Maria Ganceres, visitors at Lake Corpus Christi, said.

When heavy flooding struck the Texas Hill Country, they began following the water’s journey downstream, hoping it would eventually reach the lake.

“To see it go so low was kind of devastating. We were like, where has this water gone? And so when we heard about the floods and we heard that that water would be coming to us. It was like, oh we need to follow this water, we need to, you know, go and see how much water is really coming,” Ganceres said.

Their road trip traced the path of the water from the Hill Country to South Texas.

“Uvalde, then we went up to Garner, and from Garner, this was on a couple of trips to Tilden. From Tilden we followed it to Choke Canyon,” Ganceres said.

The excitement extends beyond longtime visitors.

Kelly Malkowski, Superintendent of Lake Corpus Christi State Park, said the difference in water levels has already transformed parts of the park.

“You could walk across, it makes a pretty deep U, like a pretty deep U. When we were 80% full, you couldn’t, like I couldn’t imagine someone walking,” Kelly Milkowski, Superintendent at Lake Corpus Christi State Park, said.

Park staff has been preparing for rising water levels and is urging visitors to use caution as the lake continues to fill.

“We do want folks to be a little bit cautious, especially in the first couple of days if we dramatically rise, those waters are bringing in debris. And the bigger concern for us with our boating and personal watercraft community are ant mats,” Malkowski said.

For the Ganceres family, seeing the shoreline return has been an emotional experience.

“We really missed being right at the water’s edge,” Ganceres said. “And you can see the difference there as well, so it’s been really exciting to see that.”

Malkowski said the park expects an influx of visitors as water levels continue to rise. The returning water is expected to breathe new life not only into the lake, but also into the surrounding community.