Lake Travis Rises Over 17 Feet After Hill Country Flooding

Lake Travis has risen more than 17 feet over the Fourth of July holiday weekend after heavy rainfall caused deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country, according to data from the Lower Colorado River Authority on Saturday.

The surface elevation of Lake Travis at Mansfield Dam at 3:30 a.m. Friday was 637.56 feet above mean sea level. As of 3:50 a.m. Sunday, the lake levels had risen 17.79 feet to 655.35 feet, and was projected to continue rising in the coming days as tributaries empty floodwaters into the lake. Lake Travis is considered full when the surface elevation reaches 681 feet.

The LCRA also was conducting flood operations Saturday, as the agency sought to manage water levels on the Highland Lakes after floodwaters overwhelmed the Guadalupe River as well as tributaries that feed the Highland Lakes, such as the Llano and Pedernales rivers.

The Highland Lakes are a chain of lakes created by a series of flood-control and hydroelectric dams along the Colorado River, upstream from Austin. Two of the largest lakes, Buchanan and Travis, are drinking-water reservoirs and the volume of water stored there can vary, depending on the season. The smaller lakes — Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls and Austin — are considered constant-level or pass-through lakes that the LCRA uses to release excess floodwater downstream.

The LCRA on Saturday had two floodgates open at both Wirtz Dam, which creates Lake LBJ, and Starcke Dam, which creates Lake Marble Falls, but expected to close some of the floodgates by the evening.

Floodwater flowed earlier Saturday over the spillway at Inks Dam, which forms Inks Lake but does not have floodgates. Water stopped flowing over the spillway by mid-afternoon Saturday.

Because of flood debris, the LCRA on Saturday was urging the public to avoid boating or swimming in the Highland Lakes. The agency also warned of fast-moving river and stream flows and bacteria levels that often increase after a flood.

“This is especially important at night when visibility is reduced, as some of the navigational buoys that help guide boaters have been damaged or destroyed in the flooding,” said John Hofmann, the LCRA's executive vice president of water.