Floodgate operations are underway & EOC activated because of heavy rainfall
Floodgate operations were underway in many areas across Central Texas. As of Sunday night, the LCRA said one floodgate is partially open at Lake Bastrop, one gate was open at Longhorn Dam, and one floodgate was open at Tom Miller Dam.
LCRA officials said they are still watching the Mansfield Dam very closely. The floodgates there haven’t been opened for nearly 10 years. They said it is a possibility that it could happen with this storm.
Andy Simmons and Ellen Reeder made their way to Tom Miller to see the floodgate open. “It's not an everyday thing and (we) wanted to see what it looked like. It's majestic, it's pretty impressive, and it’s an enormous amount of water. We don't have any big waterfalls around here so this is this is our waterfall,” they said.
But the heavy rainfall has local emergency officials concerned. Lisa Block works for the Travis County Emergency Services “We worked with the weather service and learned about the weather situation and moved up our activation.” Emergency officials with Austin, and Travis County activated the Emergency Operations Center. Something that hasn't happened since last October during the Halloween floods. The EOC is collaboration of local emergency officials monitoring severe weather conditions. “In the emergency operations center we have Fire, EMS, Sheriff’s Office, Police Department all the responding agencies are coordinating the response,” Block said.
They are closely watching low-lying areas near the lakes and flood plains and ask residents in those areas to be aware of the weather “We urge residents to be aware of what's going on, watch for watches and warnings, and make their emergency plans now in case they have to evacuate or get instructions on what they need to do if there's flash flooding,” Block said.
Many emergency responders are asking people to just stay home if they can during the severe weather. Or try to go to work a little later to avoid driving in rush hour traffic Monday morning.
LCRA officials said they are still watching the Mansfield Dam very closely. The floodgates there haven’t been opened for nearly 10 years. They said it is a possibility that it could happen with this storm.
You can click on these links for more resources about safety and cancelations of events:
Read Track the storm and local advisories with FOX 7
Read Late starts for schools on Monday, April 18
Read Austin-Travis County EOC activated
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