More downpours pummeled Texas on Wednesday, following several days of rain that caused Lake Travis’ water levels to rise a few inches.
Lake Travis has struggled with severely low water levels for more than a year as drought grips the state. Plummeting water levels revealed all manners of bizarre finds over the summer, including a porta potty and a previously hidden pecan grove, but the lake started to rise slightly in the fall and has since remained steady.
Recent rain added another few inches to the lake, but CBS Austin meteorologist Avery Tomasco expects that’s all the improvement the lake will see, at least from this storm.
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“Rain totals keep climbing to the east of I-35… Now 8-12″ in Fayette county. What does this mean for the lakes, you ask? Nothing, essentially,” Tomasco posted on X, formerly Twitter. “We’ve seen a few inches of elevation gain at Lake Travis, and that’ll probably be it.”
Rain totals keep climbing to the east of I-35… Now 8-12″ in Fayette county.
What does this mean for the lakes, you ask? Nothing, essentially. We’ve seen a few inches of elevation gain at Lake Travis, and that’ll probably be it #atxwx #txwx pic.twitter.com/yjNr9EtXuR
— Avery Tomasco (@averytomascowx) January 24, 2024
As of Wednesday morning, Lake Travis was at 631 feet, 50 feet below full pool.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued flash flood warnings for the Austin and San Antonio regions on Wednesday after doppler radar indicated that thunderstorms would produce heavy rain in the area.
“This is actually pretty unusual,” NWS meteorologist Matthew Brady told Newsweek. “This will probably be one of our wettest Januarys, especially over the coastal Plains.”
Volunteer rainfall reports in Fayette County neared 12 inches of rain in the last 72 hours. In San Antonio, nearly 2 inches of rain is typical for the month of January, but the city has already blown past that amount three times, Brady said.
“The expected rainfall rates should be mainly below a half inch per hour this morning. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible in the warned area over the next 18 hours. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly,” the warning said, adding that “life-threatening flash flooding” was possible.
Locations susceptible to flash flooding from the storm included Gonzales, La Grange, Smithville, Schulenburg, Shiner, Flatonia, Moulton, Nixon, Waelder, Smiley, Fayetteville, Round Top, Cistern, Muldoon, Palmetto State Park, Carmine, Newtonville, Elm Grove, Colony and Nickel.
Brady said the rain will continue through late Wednesday night, and he urged drivers to exercise caution when driving given the flooding.
“Numerous roads are closed due to water in the area, particularly in Gonzales and Fayette Counties. Although rainfall rates have been lighter recently, rain will continue off and on for the rest of the morning, and a final round of showers and storms will be possible overnight,” the warning said.
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