Fayette and Bastrop counties experiencing serious flooding

Trouble is brewing along the Colorado River.

“The normal level is between 3 to 6 feet. Major flooding begins at 37 feet. Right now it's projected to reach over 40 feet,” said Colton Brugger, with Fayette County Office of Emergency Management.

Fayette County is used to flooding, but emergency officials don't want anyone to get too comfortable. Remnants of Hurricane Harvey, now Tropical Storm Harvey are dumping several inches of rain into the area.

“Anybody who has lived in Fayette County over a year knows the impacts flooding can have. Last year we had torrential rain and a serious flooding event,” said Brugger.

“Right here it typically ponds like this. It's all trying to get underneath the highway over here. In large amounts of rain it does backup right here,” said Jason McBroom, describing a piece of land in the unincorporated town of Plum.

Just off Highway 71 West, in the town of Plum, dry land turned into a lake.
Authorities had to shut access roads down.

Fayette County alone shut down more than 25 roads, because of the flooding danger.
With more rain expected first responders are ready, and nobody is taking the chance on this storm.

“We will be monitoring the roads with the sheriff’s department. As soon as roads get covered up with water we will be putting up cones to keep people off of it,” said McBroom.

“We have a lot of waiting to do over the next 48 hours. Over that time we are going to be watching carefully how those predictions change and how we can communicate to folks if we may need to evacuate,” said Brugger.

Two shelters are open in Fayette County. Lagrange has Second Baptist Church and Schulenburg High School is open, if people feel the need to evacuate.