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County spared as Hill Country reels from deadly floods
Elgin weathered three days of flood watches over the holiday weekend without a single water rescue while catastrophic flooding claimed scores of lives farther west, emergency managers reported.
Successive watches and hazardous weather advisories July 4-7 warned that heavy rainfall could push the Colorado River over its banks. Lower Colorado River Authority gauges showed the 72-hour total already surpassed July’s rainfall average, but that paled beside Hill Country downpours that topped 10 inches in just a few hours.
“It’s tough, we want to go help, but we also need to make sure we protect our citizens,” said Mark Wobus, assistant chief of Bastrop/Travis County ESD No. 1, which serves the greater Elgin area.
The worst consequences of the slow-moving storm system were reported in Kerr County, where state officials said the death toll has climbed to 84, including 28 children attending Camp Mystic on the Guadalupe River. Fueled by tropical storm remnants, the river surged more than 26 feet in less than an hour on Friday.
Locally, the LCRA began floodgate operations July 4 to manage rising water levels across the area. While much of the focus was upstream, Bastrop County saw direct impacts through releases at Lake Bastrop Dam July 5.
Water from the lake feeds Spicer and Piney creeks before joining the Colorado near Bastrop. In response, the city closed off roadways and the Riverwalk between Fisherman’s and Ferry parks.
By Saturday afternoon, officials expected the Colorado to crest near 16 feet, but they trimmed that forecast as runoff soaked into parched basins upstream. The city confirmed July 7 the river peaked at 11.48 feet — below its 14-foot action stage and far under the 23-foot flood mark — and reopened the Riverwalk that morning.
“The basins above us were so low, they were able to take a whole lot of the water,” Wobus said.
LCRA gauges show Smithville absorbed the heaviest local rain at nearly 4 inches, yet the river crested at 8.59 feet, a foot below flood stage.
Elgin and Bastrop also measured less rain than predicted — barely topping 2 inches — but officials cautioned that saturated ground still poses a threat.
“Now that we’ve had rain, 2 or 3 inches within 30 minutes to an hour could be dangerous for us,” Wobus said. “The little creeks that may have been dry two weeks ago could start flooding.”
Areas of concern in Elgin, according to Wobus, include Lower and Upper Elgin River roads, the Sayers and Coon Neck communities south of the city and Pleasant Grove Road to the northeast.
He said ESD No. 1 has already seen an uptick in weather-related traffic crashes, though no structural damage was reported over the weekend. “While we love to have the rainfall, it can be dangerous,” Wobus said. “We just go back to the old adage of ‘Turn around, don’t drown.’” In total, more than 100 people across six Central Texas counties have been confirmed dead due to the storm — two of whom were reported in Williamson County, north of Elgin. Dozens more are injured or remain unaccounted, state leaders said.
According to Gov. Greg Abbott, upward of 1,750 personnel and 975 vehicles from 20 state agencies remain searching the Hill Country.
“I had the opportunity to visit Camp Mystic to see firsthand what happened there. It was nothing short of horrific,” he said. “Texas will remain engaged until every missing person is found and every Texan recovers from this disaster.”
The National Weather Service expects another round of storms after press time Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a gradual drying trend and mid-90s temperatures late week.
