LCRA opens two floodgates due to heavy rainfall in Central Texas
LCRA opens floodgates amid floodwaters
The Lower Colorado River Authority opened two floodgates Monday morning to pass floodwaters due to heavy rain.
AUSTIN, Texas - The Lower Colorado River Authority opened two floodgates Monday morning to pass floodwaters.
Tom Miller Dam and Bastrop Dam were opened. Tom Miller Dam was closed as of Monday afternoon.
By the numbers:
LCRA says with more rainfall coming, they might have to open more floodgates this week.
Hydrologists are monitoring inflows. Floodgates are opened based on current lake levels and water heading into the lakes.
Floodgate operations keep lakes from exceeding their normal operating ranges. Neither Lake Austin nor Lake Bastrop has water supply storage. Both lakes reached the top of their operating levels Monday: Lake Austin at 492 ft msl and Lake Bastrop at 450 ft msl.
Flood operations last happened at Bastrop Dam on May 1, 2026. Tom Miller Dam last opened on July 5, 2025.
Dig deeper:
Lake levels are much better than they were at this time last year.
Lakes Buchanan and Travis are water supply reservoirs. The other four Highland Lakes are pass-through lakes.
Lake Buchanan is currently 100 percent full. Lake Travis is 84 percent full. Those numbers are nearly double than how full the lakes were last June.
LCRA opened floodgates on June 15
You can sign up for flood operation notifications at LCRA.org/fons
June 15 is also notable in weather history. In 1935, Travis County was hit with 22 inches of rain in three hours. The Colorado River crested at 50 feet. With no good flood management system then, much of downtown was underwater. Thirteen people died, and 3,000 people lost their homes.
Local perspective:
Mozart's Coffee Roasters is right on Lake Austin. They say they've had fewer customers because of recent rain.
"The rain does take away some of the outdoor seating, and it kind of puts a kibosh on the exciting summer vibe that we had here, but we know in a couple of days it's going to be great again," Jack Ranstrom, a coffee roaster, said.
Austinites received multiple flash flood alerts throughout the night, but the rain was a welcome sight.
"It was exciting, because I was woken up multiple times by alerts, so that was fun. But I'm from California, and we grew up during drought time, so anytime it rains, I'm happy," Damon Lisch, who was visiting Austin, said.
"I think in the context of some of the tragedies that have happened, I'd really rather be over alerted than under alerted," Sara Mather said.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen