Texas weather: Storms bring drought relief, damage across Hill Country
HILL COUNTRY - Water continued to rush over the Llano Dam on Monday after a rainy weekend.
The flow was tapering off but the amount of water moving downstream was a welcome sight for people like Max Gilen, who works near the Llano River.
"I know the people that live on Lake Travis are going to be really happy. I live on LBJ, and we have a constant level. My parents live on Lake Travis, and they are going to be happy to see that," said Gilen.
In Kingland, no homes were threatened by the downstream flow. But at the low water crossing, known as The Slab, about 2 feet of water closed off County Road 307. Throughout the morning, several people walked down to get a closer look.
"It's awesome, it's really nice to see it back up to where it used to be, well almost where it used to be," said Kingsland resident Stacy Barnum.
From Llano, the storm moved northeast into Lampasas, causing several swift water rescues. The line of storms then moved up into Coryell County, where more rescues took place and roads were damaged. Video of a tense situation was recorded near the community of King, southwest of Gatesville.
Richard Ellis and his wife Lauren James watched floodwaters from Cowhouse Creek rip the asphalt off Farm Road 1783 and the bridge.
"We were sitting there watching it, and there was a line of cars, and we saw this big thing stick out of the water, and we're like, is that a roof, or a piece of tin? But we realized it was the road being washed away," said James.
The couple from Gatesville said they only had one way out of their neighborhood due to the high water.
"We heard it was pretty high and people were not able to cross, but we were surprised at just how fast it was moving," said James.
Thirty-five roads were closed in Coryell County as of noon Monday due to high water or damage, including parts of major connectors like Hwy 84 and FM 116. Road repairs in Coryell County are expected to take 2 to 4 weeks, according to Sheriff Scott Williams.
"We’re kind of at the end of our resources a little bit, if you will, we’ve stretched them as thin as we can get them," said Sheriff Williams.
There were five swift water rescues on Sunday on roadways between Gatesville and Coppress Cove. Efforts got underway Monday to recover about a half dozen vehicles. So far, no deaths have been reported.
"If we could just convince these people, I don’t care where they live, if they could just turn around in that swift water, it just ain’t worth it. There have been a lot of close calls and a lot of washed away vehicles," said Sheriff Williams.
Water remains high on the Leon River. With more water heading down stream from the rains that fell around Hamilton, another round of flooding is expected by Tuesday afternoon.
