Ronzo
06-27-2007, 02:39 PM
Rain waterlogs Central Texas (http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/weather/entries/2007/06/27/rain_waterlogs.html)
By Asher Price and Joshunda Sanders | Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 09:49 AM
For what seems like the 40th straight day and night, rain lashed Central Texas throughout the evening and on through the morning.
At least 18 inches of rain were dumped in parts of the Hill Country, and forecasters say the same storm system is heading this morning toward the Austin metro area, though likely with less rain (the National Weather Service at 8:35 a.m. predicted that Austin would get 1 to 2 inches of rain by noon).
The rainfall has led to widespread road flooding and closures, and forecasters warn that flooding will continue as waterways flush the heavy rainfall from their systems. The Marble Falls area appears to be the hardest hit.
Austin-Travis County EMS officials report that several swift-water rescues are in progress, and that there are “multiple reports of persons trapped in fast moving water atop vehicles, on roof tops, or clinging to trees.”
US 183 south of Seward Junction was closed, and traffic was being diverted to Intersate 35, but officials reopened 183 just before 9 a.m.
Dozens of residents in Graveyard Point, a flood-prone strip of land on Lake Travis, scrambled this morning to pack up their belongings and move to higher ground as the lake began to rise about a foot an hour.
Eric Stough, 56, and his friend, David Rhoades, began piling bicycles, lawn chairs and anything that wasn’t tied down beneath a huge blue boat. Stough said he and Rhoades were planning to move the silver RV they were in to higher ground as soon as possible after hearing about the flooding in Marble Falls.
“It’s coming this way, because it has to,” Rhoades said. “I haven’t had to do this in the three years I’ve lived here,” Stough said. “But I knew there would come a day when I would.” A friend called Stough’s cell phone to check on him and he thanked the man for “catalyzing me to get ready. The human struggle continues.”
The Lower Colorado River Authority continues to release Highland Lakes water because the reservoirs it oversees are full to the brim.
The reason for all the rain is the merger of two storms, one from Dallas and another from New Mexico, over the Hill Country. The two storms met last night and are apparently unwilling to part company: Forecasters expect no let-up at least until the early afternoon.
Burnet County has also received at least a dozen inches of rain, and inches of rain in the west and northwest portions of Travis County and Williamson County climbed into the half-dozen inch range. (Camp Mabry in Austin, however, logged just under a half-inch of rain overnight.)
Capital Metro, which owns a rail line that runs from Llano through Marble Falls and on to Austin, said freight operations on the line have been delayed by some flooding near creek crossings, spokesman Adam Shaivitz said today. The agency’s freight rail contractor runs a handful of trains each day on that line, principally serving rock quarries in the Burnet and Marble Falls areas.
“We’ll have to do some repair work, ties and ballast and that sort of thing that are same day repairs,” Shaivitz said. “Any trains that are in those areas, we are having to hold up because of the weather and repairs.”
Shaivitz said there are no reports so far of damage to any of the agency’s bridges on the rail line, including the major bridge over the South San Gabriel River just upstream from where the river crosses U.S. 183.
At Graveyard Point, Trent Chastain and his wife, Lona, were eyeing the lake calmly from 30 feet above ground. “It’s not devastating to us yet,” Chastain said. “But if we get 9 more inches like they’re talking about, we’re in trouble.”
On the other side of Graveyard Point, boat docks had sunk beneath rain water and dogs frolicked in the muddy water as residents scurried to pack their clothes and furniture into pickup trucks. Lance Ranowel sat with his dogs Sunny and Bandet on a wet park bench a few inches from the shoreline, smoking a cigarette. “I didn’t see this coming, but neither did the weather man and that’s what makes me mad,” he said.
http://www.statesman.com/shared-gen/blogs/austin/weather/LakesLevels0628_440.jpg
By Asher Price and Joshunda Sanders | Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 09:49 AM
For what seems like the 40th straight day and night, rain lashed Central Texas throughout the evening and on through the morning.
At least 18 inches of rain were dumped in parts of the Hill Country, and forecasters say the same storm system is heading this morning toward the Austin metro area, though likely with less rain (the National Weather Service at 8:35 a.m. predicted that Austin would get 1 to 2 inches of rain by noon).
The rainfall has led to widespread road flooding and closures, and forecasters warn that flooding will continue as waterways flush the heavy rainfall from their systems. The Marble Falls area appears to be the hardest hit.
Austin-Travis County EMS officials report that several swift-water rescues are in progress, and that there are “multiple reports of persons trapped in fast moving water atop vehicles, on roof tops, or clinging to trees.”
US 183 south of Seward Junction was closed, and traffic was being diverted to Intersate 35, but officials reopened 183 just before 9 a.m.
Dozens of residents in Graveyard Point, a flood-prone strip of land on Lake Travis, scrambled this morning to pack up their belongings and move to higher ground as the lake began to rise about a foot an hour.
Eric Stough, 56, and his friend, David Rhoades, began piling bicycles, lawn chairs and anything that wasn’t tied down beneath a huge blue boat. Stough said he and Rhoades were planning to move the silver RV they were in to higher ground as soon as possible after hearing about the flooding in Marble Falls.
“It’s coming this way, because it has to,” Rhoades said. “I haven’t had to do this in the three years I’ve lived here,” Stough said. “But I knew there would come a day when I would.” A friend called Stough’s cell phone to check on him and he thanked the man for “catalyzing me to get ready. The human struggle continues.”
The Lower Colorado River Authority continues to release Highland Lakes water because the reservoirs it oversees are full to the brim.
The reason for all the rain is the merger of two storms, one from Dallas and another from New Mexico, over the Hill Country. The two storms met last night and are apparently unwilling to part company: Forecasters expect no let-up at least until the early afternoon.
Burnet County has also received at least a dozen inches of rain, and inches of rain in the west and northwest portions of Travis County and Williamson County climbed into the half-dozen inch range. (Camp Mabry in Austin, however, logged just under a half-inch of rain overnight.)
Capital Metro, which owns a rail line that runs from Llano through Marble Falls and on to Austin, said freight operations on the line have been delayed by some flooding near creek crossings, spokesman Adam Shaivitz said today. The agency’s freight rail contractor runs a handful of trains each day on that line, principally serving rock quarries in the Burnet and Marble Falls areas.
“We’ll have to do some repair work, ties and ballast and that sort of thing that are same day repairs,” Shaivitz said. “Any trains that are in those areas, we are having to hold up because of the weather and repairs.”
Shaivitz said there are no reports so far of damage to any of the agency’s bridges on the rail line, including the major bridge over the South San Gabriel River just upstream from where the river crosses U.S. 183.
At Graveyard Point, Trent Chastain and his wife, Lona, were eyeing the lake calmly from 30 feet above ground. “It’s not devastating to us yet,” Chastain said. “But if we get 9 more inches like they’re talking about, we’re in trouble.”
On the other side of Graveyard Point, boat docks had sunk beneath rain water and dogs frolicked in the muddy water as residents scurried to pack their clothes and furniture into pickup trucks. Lance Ranowel sat with his dogs Sunny and Bandet on a wet park bench a few inches from the shoreline, smoking a cigarette. “I didn’t see this coming, but neither did the weather man and that’s what makes me mad,” he said.
http://www.statesman.com/shared-gen/blogs/austin/weather/LakesLevels0628_440.jpg