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People\u00a0gather Thursday to watch as the Pedernales River floods Ranch Road 1623 in Gillespie County near Stonewall.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Although\u00a0Austin was spared the worst<\/a> of the flooding that occurred this past week in South Texas and parts of the Hill Country, the city instead will likely benefit from floodwaters replenishing local waterways. But that is not always the case.<\/p>\n Drought-buster in the making?<\/p>\n The heavy rainfall in the past seven days\u00a0has already significantly improved the status of freshwater sources and drought levels. Some data points, as of Friday, include:<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Lake Travis is considered 97% full,\u00a0according to\u00a0the Lower Colorado River Authority<\/a>. The lake level, or surface elevation at Mansfield Dam, is 679.02 feet above mean sea level \u2014 that\u2019s about 8 feet higher than last week. That’s also more than 12 feet above the historical average in July and it’s forecast to\u00a0reach full capacity and into the flood pool\u00a0<\/a>of \u00a0682 to 684 feet above msl\u00a0within the next 24 hours.\u00a0 Texas drought data released Thursday showed that about 59% of the state was drought-free in the middle of July.<\/p>\n U.S. Drought Monitor\/National Drought Mitigation Center<\/p>\n Life in flash flood alley<\/p>\n Austin sits in \u201cflash flood alley,\u201d\u00a0<\/a>a corridor that follows the curve of the Balcones Escarpment, from Dallas to Austin and then to the southwest of San Antonio. The escarpment is not only the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau and the Hill Country, it\u2019s also the natural boundary between the semi-arid higher elevations that stretch into West Texas and the humid Coastal Plains leading to the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Because Texas has a unique natural combination of volatile weather patterns<\/a> and a varied landscape, the state is susceptible to rapid-onset floods. Flash flooding is the state\u2019s leading cause of weather-related deaths, according to the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n Managing floodwaters on the Colorado River<\/p>\n Austin also sits on the banks of the Colorado River, which is fed by significant tributaries in the Hill Country like the Pedernales and the Llano rivers. So, even if flooding rainfall occurs 100 miles away<\/a> from Austin, rivers that feed the Colorado can bring any excess water to the city\u2019s doorstep.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Historically, that has meant that the Texas capital was vulnerable to nature\u2019s whims<\/a> during the rainy seasons. In the 1930s, the Texas Legislature established the Lower Colorado River Authority and the Highland Lakes, a chain of lakes created by a series of dams on the river, to not only tame the river during floods but also generate electricity from it.<\/p>\n For instance, Lake Travis and Mansfield Dam, which\u00a0created it, were engineered to capture and store floodwaters from upstream,\u00a0according to the LCRA<\/a>. Austin was finally protected but it wouldn\u2019t stop flooding along creeks and streams that are tributaries to the Colorado River\u00a0\u2014 nor would it stop flooding from urban tributaries downstream from Lake Travis, such as Barton Creek, Bull Creek or Onion Creek.<\/p>\n People arrive Friday at a flooded low water crossing on the Old Kerr Highway, separating them from Texas 16 after catastrophic flooding swelled rivers across Central Texas and the Hill Country.<\/p>\n Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Llano River floods and Austin<\/p>\n The Hill Country flooding this past week has caused both the Pedernales and the Llano rivers to surge. As of 8 a.m. Friday, the National Weather Service was expecting the Llano River to crest again, around 19.5 feet by 2 a.m. Saturday.\u00a0Flood stage is 10 feet, forecasters said, and the river is not likely to fall below that level until around 5 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In October 2018, about 13 inches of rainfall soaked the Hill Country<\/a> west of Austin, creating a series of water crises that began\u00a0with the flooding of the\u00a0Llano River, which surged 30 feet above flood stage. A woman was killed when her car was swept away by floodwaters.<\/p>\n The surge found its way into Lake Travis, pushing lake levels above capacity. Finally, Austin\u2019s water treatment plants struggled to filter the city\u2019s drinking water because of excess silt churned by the floodwaters in the Highland Lakes. Authorities issued an unprecedented boil-water notice, warning residents not to drink straight from the tap for a week.<\/p>\n Safety after the floods<\/p>\n With more river flooding possible Friday on top of the catastrophic flooding that has already occurred over the past two days, it\u2019s critical to stay out of floodwaters.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n After flood safety tips from the National Weather Service.\u00a0<\/p>\n National Weather Service<\/p>\n Floodwater is far more dangerous than it appears<\/a>. Even shallow, slow-moving water can hide serious hazards, including downed power lines, displaced wildlife, sharp debris, raw sewage, harmful bacteria, and toxic chemicals. As water flows over the landscape, it also can pick up pollutants like lawn chemicals, motor oil, pet waste and litter before making its way into local creeks, lakes, and rivers.<\/p>\n CENTRAL TEXAS FLOODING:\u00a0What to know about floodwater dangers and cleanup<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nThe J-17 San Antonio index well for the Edwards Aquifer is at 649.2 feet, which is 20.4 feet higher than it was six months ago on Jan.17. However, the index well remains 10 feet below its historical average for this time of year.
\nTexas data from the U.S. Drought Monitor<\/a> released Thursday shows a statewide expansion of drought-free areas, from 52% of the Texas last week to about 59% this week. Severe drought remains along the Travis-Bastrop county line and western Bastrop County.
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