{"id":387765,"date":"2026-07-27T15:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/387765\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T15:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:10:08","slug":"people-rescued-as-austin-waterway-activity-ban-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/387765\/","title":{"rendered":"People rescued as Austin waterway activity ban continues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Five people were rescued from the Colorado River on Sunday after reportedly experiencing distress in a strong current, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ATCEMS\/status\/2081541060140916817\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">according to Austin-Travis County EMS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A kayaker and multiple people on a paddleboard were rescued around 90-98 Montopolis Drive, which is near the Montopolis Bridge on the Colorado River. ATCEMS said Sunday evening that medics were evaluating the victims for medical needs. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Final Water Rescue 90-98 Montopolis Drive. 5 victims removed from the water by an AFD rescue Boat. @atcemsmedics evaluating for any medical needs. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/R7jWxUDxpG\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/R7jWxUDxpG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ATCEMS (@ATCEMS) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ATCEMS\/status\/2081549081378267285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The water rescue took place a day after the city of Austin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.austintexas.gov\/emergency-management\/news\/city-reopens-lake-austin-extends-waterways-ban-south-tom-miller-dam\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">extended its waterway activity ban<\/a> for Lady Bird Lake and the Colorado River downstream of Longhorn Dam. Personal and commercial boats, wet bikes, motorized surfboards, canoes, kayaks and paddleboards are not allowed in those areas.<\/p>\n<p>The ban continues until Monday at 5 p.m., but the city said it could be extended again if floodgates remain open at Tom Miller Dam. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LCRA\/status\/2081733621883212002\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Floodgates at the dam<\/a> closed Monday morning, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The higher, faster water flows resulting from dam operations can create hazardous conditions on the waterways for boaters,&#8221; the city said in a press release. &#8220;Boaters may have trouble paddling against the current to get back to their original destination or to stay away from dangerous areas near the dams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The city noted that visibility under the water may be limited, debris may lead to unpredictable currents and bacteria may be elevated. It&#8217;s also encouraging people to continue to avoid riverfront trails. <\/p>\n<p>This is the third time the city has extended its waterway ban since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kut.org\/energy-environment\/2026-07-16\/texas-hill-country-death-flood-kerrville-comfort-tx\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">severe flooding hit large parts<\/a> of Texas earlier this month. The city&#8217;s ban had previously covered Lake Austin as well, but that portion of the ban expired Saturday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five people were rescued from the Colorado River on Sunday after reportedly experiencing distress in a strong current,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,10533,93939,3576,42818,3742,4157,136675,3175,135603],"class_list":["post-387765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-austin-tx","tag-colorado-river","tag-flooding","tag-kayak","tag-lady-bird-lake","tag-lake-austin","tag-paddleboard","tag-rescue","tag-waterway-ban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}