Record-setting rain brings wet start to 2019

Mary Huber
mhuber@statesman.com
Water from Brushy Creek rushes over Brushy Bend Drive on Thursday after heavy rains the day before. It is one of 200 low water crossings in the area that were closed after record-setting rainfall. [JAY JANNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

Record-setting rain struck Central Texas again this week, causing at least one person to be swept away in floodwaters, a rock slide in Northwest Austin and closures at the Barton Creek Greenbelt and Barton Springs Pool for the second time in two weeks.

The storms drenched many of the same areas hit by heavy rains last week, leading forecasters to believe an El Niño weather pattern, produced from warm waters in the Pacific Ocean, is shaping up with increased storm activity in the southern U.S. that could last through the spring. The latest dousing came when a cold front from the north met a storm system from the west, producing exceptional rainfall amounts that on Wednesday beat out previously set records at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and the city's main weather station at Camp Mabry.

The airport got 2.16 inches of rain Wednesday and Camp Mabry 2.34 inches, breaking records from 1991, when 1.87 inches and 1.6 inches fell in those sites, respectively.

All told, parts of Travis County, which got the brunt of the storm, picked up more than 3½ inches in a 48-hour period, according to data released Thursday by the National Weather Service.

Lakeway got 3.64 inches; Pflugerville 3.49 inches; Taylor 3.45 inches; and Manor 2.8 inches, the data show.

Some of those places had already seen as much as 4 inches of rain the week before.

More than 200 low water crossings were closed as water crept over Central Texas roads.

Several vehicles became trapped in the high water, including a man's car that washed away at a low water crossing on Gregg Lane near Fuchs Grove Road in Manor late Wednesday. The driver had to be rescued by boat as he clung to a tree, the Austin Fire Department said. He was taken to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Pflugerville with injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening, according to Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.

Another vehicle was trapped in high water on Old San Antonio Road in South Austin on Wednesday night, but the driver was able to get out and was not in danger, the Fire Department said. A third vehicle was swept away in Manor, but it turned out to be abandoned, officials said.

"The big message we always push is turn around don’t drown," Fire Department Capt. Andre de la Reza said Thursday. "It only takes an inch or two of water over the roadway to push a vehicle away."

Floodwaters led to problems at an East Austin wastewater treatment plant, where Austin Water said some partially treated water had been discharged into the Colorado River near Delwau Lane. The utility said Austin's water supply was not affected, but private well owners in the nearby area were urged to boil their water for at least a minute before using it.

Thousands of people lost power during the storms, Austin Energy said. And at one point, falling rocks crashed onto RM 2222 west of Paradox Cove in Northwest Austin, prompting Texas Department of Transportation officials to close a portion of the road Wednesday until crews could clear the boulders. One westbound lane remained closed Thursday.

In response to the rainfall, the Lower Colorado River Authority partially opened a single floodgate at Tom Miller Dam on Wednesday to move floodwaters downstream. The LCRA expected to keep it open for several days and said it was using hydroelectric generation to release some of the water in Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, which had both swelled to 100 percent of their capacities.

In the meantime, the agency stopped lowering waters at Lake LBJ and Lake Marble Falls, which it had been doing to help with cleanup since October's extensive flooding.

"The drawdowns will resume when the flood operations have stopped later this week," the LCRA said.

While cold weather had been forecast for the Hill Country, only one area north of Fredericksburg in Gillespie County reported seeing freezing rain, weather service meteorologist Cory Van Pelt said. Some pea-sized hail was spotted early Thursday in Dripping Springs and Lakeway, meteorologists said.

Temperatures throughout Central Texas dropped to near freezing, and flood advisories remained in place for Travis, Williamson, Hays, Caldwell and Lee counties until Thursday morning, when the rain moved eastward.

Still, the rush of water through Barton Creek remained so strong Thursday that the city had to close the Barton Creek Greenbelt and Barton Springs Pool for a second day out of safety concerns.

Tony Savage with the city's Parks and Recreation Department said water in the creek was still rushing at 1,000 cubic feet per second Thursday.

"With the water flowing that quickly, it’s very easy for accidents to happen," he said. "Our first priority is the safety of our patrons and the citizens of Austin."

Officials said they expected the greenbelt to reopen Friday but that Barton Springs Pool would likely remain closed for several more days. Water was still rushing over the dam into the pool Thursday, creating dangerous water conditions at the South Austin watering hole, parks aquatic supervisor Aaron Levine said.

"When the creek gets too high and water starts coming into the dam, that creek water brings with it extra bacteria and other kinds of organisms and germs and also, depending on how bad the flood is, brings external debris into the pool," he said. "People upstream and on the creek itself need to be really careful."

Since it's the second flood in as many weeks, Levine said he doesn't expect much debris to have accumulated in the pool. Many loose branches and trees had already washed downstream during storms just after Christmas. He said scuba divers would not be able to survey the damage until at least Friday morning, after which lifeguards would begin the dayslong cleanup.