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Water levels at Lake Travis in Austin, Texas, have jumped more than 6 feet over the past week, with most of the increase coming in the past day as swollen rivers send millions of gallons of water downstream to the popular reservoir.
Lake Travis has battled declining water levels since 2022. They were so low last year that they exposed hidden pecan groves and abandoned concrete plants beneath the lake's surface. The lake has plummeted 30 feet since the start of 2022, although it reclaimed a fraction of that loss over the past week as heavy rains pounded Texas.
On Monday, storms dumped as much as 9 inches of rain in some parts of the Texas Hill Country, and the excessive moisture put some rivers at a flood risk, prompting state water officials to open floodgates at the Max Starcke and Wirtz dams.
The water then flowed downstream to supplement Lake Travis at a rate of 13.5 million gallons per minute. As of Thursday afternoon, Lake Travis water levels were at just over 640 feet.
"Lake Travis continues to climb, but is already 6 feet higher than a week ago. That amount of water could: Fill 31,000 Olympic-size swimming pools [or] Run Niagara Falls for 8 hours straight," CBS Austin meteorologist Avery Tomasco posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
Lake Travis continues to climb, but is already 6 feet higher than a week ago.
That amount of water could:
🔹Fill 31,000 Olympic-size swimming pools
🔹Run Niagara Falls for 8 hours straight #atxwx #txwx pic.twitter.com/661fRuIKu0
"Lake Travis is higher right now than it was at any point in 2023," Tomasco added.
National Weather Service (NWS) hydrometeorological technician Cory Van Pelt told Newsweek that some rivers upstream of Lake Travis are still flowing, meaning that the lake could continue to rise.
Despite the improvement, the lake has a long way to go. The reservoir is 7 feet below the water level than this period in 2022 and 40 feet below full capacity
"13.5 million gallons/minute sounds great until you consider that 200 BILLION gallons of water is needed to get LT [Lake Travis] back to full elevation," Tomasco posted to X on Wednesday. "This won't get us anywhere close to that number, but it's still a significant amount of water that rarely happens in July."
Tomasco said that a Thursday storm brought another "small dose" of additional rain to the Llano River, which is upstream of Lake Travis.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Austin area was under a flood watch and a hazardous weather outlook that warned of isolated storms, according to the NWS. "Locally heavy rainfall" was expected, although it likely wouldn't contribute to a "significant change" in Lake Travis water levels, Van Pelt said.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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