Llano River bridge over Lake LBJ is out!

[BrandonA]

I have seen Marble like this once before. Never LBJ and the Llano.

[jakeb03]

Crazy amount of water.

[kruppa24]

Prayers for all the families going through this

[tommy1005]

That looks like something out of a movie...

It’s unreal. Finally got my sisters house put back together after Harvey, and now it looks like we will be doing the lake house as well. The boat was my dad’s pride and joy, we lost him in 2015. I think I’m more worried about the boat than the house at this point because of that.

[Dale Moser]

The term "constant level lakes" is not really a good one. They are pass through lakes meaning they don't control flooding. As for the bolded part; I think they got more water than they expected and they probably should have been letting some water out. The problem just didn't compound, it was exponentially worse.

Yep, "constant level" is a bit of a misleading term.


I wonder where they left most of the water from last weeks flooding? I don't know a ton about LBJ, or what it's levels were, but Travis is a beast for holding water. I can't imagine they saw this weeks flood being as bad as it is after what happened last week. Either way, there is no reason not to send all they can down from Travis without flooding Austin...like yesterday.

They also have to take into account long and short term weather forecasts for areas above and below each dam....what a mess.


All the best to you folks in and around those watersheds. That picture of Wirtz dam reminds me of Possum Kingdom Dam in '07 I believe it was, with "constant level" Lake Granbury just 40 miles down the Brazos.

[Charlie]

I agree, you should not sacrifice the dam for those downstream but there are so many factors that one must take into account when releasing water and at what time. The Colorado and Llano Rivers have some dramatic bends, and if you release water quickly into those areas, the flow is retarded and can potentially cause additional damage and flooding in areas upstream. I do not envy those who have to make that decision as to when to release water and how much.

The kicker is this, nature is a cruel woman who you can not predict and when you live on or near a waterbody, you have to expect that one day she will come knocking on your door to remind you that she is the boss, no mater how much engineering or planning that is done. I just hope that everyone was able to vacate their homes quickly and all are safe. Homes can be replaced.

This is correct. I'm not sure the LCRA folks could have made that much of an impact if they released more water sooner. We got a lot of rain.

[tommy1005]

Looking at the levels LBJ was 2 feet below normal yesterday, so they had lowered it some. They also can’t lower it too much because of the power plant

[Mike]

This is a tough one to post on, prayers sent to all involved.

Does anyone know what these lakes were dammed for, power generation, recreation or flood control? That tells a lot on how they are operated.

I know that people here in the flood plain below Toledo Bend have learned a lot the last few years on how the reservoir is operated. The have no regard to interests downstream and must operate the flood gates to a strict handbook based upon lake levels and a certain maintenance flow for other industrial interests.

[Take Dead Aim]

Harvey taught us that you can build your house completely out of a flood plain and it can still flood.

People that build on constant level lakes have a similar expectation that their docks will not be washed away and their homes will not flood because the lake level will be maintained at a near- constant level. People living on Lake Travis know their lake level will fluctuate dramatically...which is why they build higher and have floating docks.

I've never seen LBJ and Marble Falls flood like this. It's not something that is supposed to happen. We either had more water come down than anyone expected or LCRA dropped the ball.

Our river house is in the 100 year flood plain but we carry flood insurance.

I think the rain fall was way more than anyone expected. They can only let so much water out so fast. They are also limited on opening gates at certain times. They can't just open flood gates knowing they are going to flood houses below without some warning it about to happen. IE cant just open all 10 gates in the middle of the night knowing people are sleeping and have no clue it's coming. Not saying they made the right call this go around but Travis just rose 20 feet in 24 hours. That is unheard of for a lake that can hold that capacity of water. That is all from the rain out West and Llano runoff.

You now have all lakes in the chain at full or over full stage. Could LCRA have done something sure. It would have had to of been done days ago. At that point they was no threat. Hope they did everything they could.

[Take Dead Aim]

This is a tough one to post on, prayers sent to all involved.

Does anyone know what these lakes were dammed for, power generation, recreation or flood control? That tells a lot on how they are operated.

I know that people here in the flood plain below Toledo Bend have learned a lot the last few years on how the reservoir is operated. The have no regard to interests downstream and must operate the flood gates to a strict handbook based upon lake levels and a certain maintenance flow for other industrial interests.

Flood control and power. The Hill Country is the flash flood capital of the World.

[mjhaverkamp]

I think it would be hard to blame anyone for the flooding, what a mess . You know we have had more rain than we need, I remember getting into arguments with guys saying you can never have enough, never complain about rain in Texas, well this is what happens. I hope and pray all you folks being effected by these flood waters come out ok and wish you good luck.

[PYBUCK]

Most of the heavy rain happened late at night and i don't think the LCRA knew what was coming. By the time they decided they were going to release water and notified authorities of their decision, the water was more then they could handle.

[Boomerang]

The LCRA can not protect property with releases with the Colorado River since there are not any dams on the Llano River, a flash flood is devastating. If the LCRA dropped LBJ three or four feet it may have saved the bridge. Houses on the south bank of the Llano River on Lake LBJ are very low, someone opening flood gates at 2AM still would not have protected against a Biblical Flood, dropping the level of LBJ by a few feet and maybe not enough time to do it may have saved the FM 2900 bridge? The weather pattern was identical to what happened with the 1998 New Braunfels Flood. Tragic for everyone.

[Dale Moser]

The Lllano is going to be a strange looking mess when the water goes down...

[1369]

The Lllano is going to be a strange looking mess when the water goes down...

It'll be interesting if they discover anything like they did when the Guadalupe went over the emergency spillway at Canyon dam and carved out a 60 acre gorge.

Canyon Lake Gorge