# Brazos River Sugar Land and US 59



## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I did a drive by a few minutes ago. The eastern turnaround is barricaded as the water is over the banks. West side is still dry. The river is at 48 feet now and predicted to go to 50 feet which will tie the record. It is predicted to go down on Monday. It looks like the levees should be high enough for 50 feet.


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

All those levees constructed in the 90's have to affect what happens above and below them. Going to be interesting to see where that water goes now.


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

Here's the city's statement:

Brazos River Flooding
Latest Update

_*Update: May 29, 10:58 a.m.*_
The Brazos River is now expected to spill its banks as early as Saturday and possibly as late as Sunday. The river is expected to remain out of its banks for 24-36 hours. The U.S. 59 turnarounds at the Brazos River are closed. Levees systems should protect the City against dangerous floodwaters. No evacuations in Sugar Land are expected. While it's tempting for some to get a closer look at the river, it's very dangerous and should be avoided. It is important to remain vigilant and take precautionary measures in case weather forecasts change for the worse. We will continue to provide updates to keep the public informed of potential threats.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I guess the people that own all that heavy equipment between UH Sugar land and the Brazos are not concerned but at least they provided a place for some water to go.


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

I wonder if my trotlines are gonna be OK...:slimer:


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## mstrelectricman (Jul 10, 2009)

I told everyone that hears me many years ago that one day it would go over those levees. I still think it will some day.


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

mstrelectricman said:


> I told everyone that hears me many years ago that one day it would go over those levees. I still think it will some day.


 Or through them....

You don't make the Brazos mad at you. It's not healthy. They've been building levees in the general area for decades; however, it's just been around certain areas, the river always had somewhere else it could go. When they basically channelized the river between two levees at the 99 bridge, they really made her mad.

I wouldn't have a hard time believing that the Richmond/Rosenberg flooding now can be directly laid at the door of those levees.


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## mstrelectricman (Jul 10, 2009)

I've lived along that river my whole life and listened to my elders tell stories too. That is a MEAN river! and when she wants somethin....she gonna take it.

The through it comment is just what I mean....she'll start to go over that earth dam and then it's over. She'll cut through it like hot knife through butter. It may not happen this time....but it will happen.


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

Pic of the turnaround in SL from Fox 26 earlier today


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## regulator (May 21, 2004)

My family has lived in Simonton since 83, been through 2 floods and had numerous close calls.. this one is a big one, however the city has had a plan in place, they have placed pumps (BIG *** PUMPS) around valley lodge and have been pumping water now for quite a while.. I cant say it is going to work or not but at this stage last time we flooded it was already in our house.... this time the water is rising but still a ways from getting in....pray some more and cross your fingers.... And yes the Brazos is one mean Lady, All that NEW PROGRESS down river from Simonton is going to learn just how mean she is one of these days. I have been through it and dont want nothing to do with it again.......


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

regulator said:


> My family has lived in Simonton since 83, been through 2 floods and had numerous close calls.. this one is a big one, however the city has had a plan in place, they have placed pumps (BIG *** PUMPS) around valley lodge and have been pumping water now for quite a while.. I cant say it is going to work or not but at this stage last time we flooded it was already in our house.... this time the water is rising but still a ways from getting in....pray some more and cross your fingers.... And yes the Brazos is one mean Lady, All that NEW PROGRESS down river from Simonton is going to learn just how mean she is one of these days. I have been through it and dont want nothing to do with it again.......


 When was the last time, 94?


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## mstrelectricman (Jul 10, 2009)

regulator said:


> My family has lived in Simonton since 83, been through 2 floods and had numerous close calls.. this one is a big one, however the city has had a plan in place, they have placed pumps (BIG *** PUMPS) around valley lodge and have been pumping water now for quite a while.. I cant say it is going to work or not but at this stage last time we flooded it was already in our house.... this time the water is rising but still a ways from getting in....pray some more and cross your fingers.... And yes the Brazos is one mean Lady, All that NEW PROGRESS down river from Simonton is going to learn just how mean she is one of these days. I have been through it and dont want nothing to do with it again.......


I have customers in Valley Lodge and one of them is on the team that maintains and runs the pumps. I've already been prayin and will add y'all to my list.

Lord have mercy!


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## regulator (May 21, 2004)

dwilliams35 said:


> When was the last time, 94?


October of 94 it broke 50 feet, that was the big one (of my time) it was coming over 1093 that year... I dont think it has hit 48ft since then, it has come close but not quite.. they say this one will push 50... we will see


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## regulator (May 21, 2004)

mstrelectricman said:


> I have customers in Valley Lodge and one of them is on the team that maintains and runs the pumps. I've already been prayin and will add y'all to my list.
> 
> Lord have mercy!


I would love to thank them all somehow, they are busting their azzes to save that place... hoping and praying is about all you can do at this point...


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## emed (Mar 16, 2015)

The levees at Greatwood are 75 feet and they are the same on the side of Sugarland as well.


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

regulator said:


> October of 94 it broke 50 feet, that was the big one (of my time) it was coming over 1093 that year... I dont think it has hit 48ft since then, it has come close but not quite.. they say this one will push 50... we will see


 I'm upriver from you, and I've been watching the river gauges HARD for the last couple of weeks: What we've got from Bryan on down is nowhere near what we had in those two floods: Hempstead is running near projected crest at 82K cfs: 1994 was running 103K, and '91 was at 115K. We had the same thing: it came out on us in '94 but we didn't get it in '91 with more water. I've been trying to figure that one out ever since.. Upstream from there is for the most part looking fairly good, as long as we don't get too much more rain up there.

I think the expected 50 at Richmond is just the effect of the levees below them, and the question is just how far it backs up from there. The new gauge at San Felipe will help a lot, they just don't have enough data history on it to really do much at the moment..


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## Shady Walls (Feb 20, 2014)

Sure hope the levees in Freeport hold up, they been there forever.


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

emed said:


> The levees at Greatwood are 75 feet and they are the same on the side of Sugarland as well.


 Doesn't really matter. The Brazos has proved many times that it doesn't have to go OVER something to destroy it..


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

Ya'll hang on down there.We just had big hard rains up here,and it's still pour right now.All these storms came across the Brazos starting about 3 hrs. ago.


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## mstrelectricman (Jul 10, 2009)

dwilliams35 said:


> Doesn't really matter. The Brazos has proved many times that it doesn't have to go OVER something to destroy it..


This is fact. Look at the river from a google view and note all the oxbow lakes along it's path. She is constantly moving. Keep in mind that these events occur over time. It's been happening for a long time, 
WAY longer than the white man has been here.
When I was a kid living and fishing there as the river would be on the rise I'd be runnin my throw lines and have witnessed on more than one occasion the far bank fall into the river. It sounds like a cannon going off when a 3' slice a 100' long goes in and the wave comin across will get ya.

I was totally forbidden to go into the river tryin to get my lines that had been overtaken during the night when she was on the rise. I was very tempted to wade out and get them, especially when I could see that there were good fish on the line!


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

mstrelectricman said:


> This is fact. Look at the river from a google view and note all the oxbow lakes along it's path. She is constantly moving. Keep in mind that these events occur over time. It's been happening for a long time,
> WAY longer than the white man has been here.
> When I was a kid living and fishing there as the river would be on the rise I'd be runnin my throw lines and have witnessed on more than one occasion the far bank fall into the river. It sounds like a cannon going off when a 3' slice a 100' long goes in and the wave comin across will get ya.
> 
> I was totally forbidden to go into the river tryin to get my lines that had been overtaken during the night when she was on the rise. I was very tempted to wade out and get them, especially when I could see that there were good fish on the line!


 Being painfully aware of what you're talking about, to the tune of 80-100 acres gone, I can say that you really have to worry more when the river is falling. The water rises and soaks all that dirt, then on its way back down it starts undercutting the bank. Sooner or later everything above the undercut just gives way. we had one time where we had about 6 acres of woods just slid down all at once: went down about 5', trees and grass, etc. still intact, then about a week later the whole thing fell in at once.. All that land gone over my lifetime, and however long before that, and the river's only been out of its banks here once during that fifty years: Again, it doesn't have to go OVER something to take it. All it has to do is want to go there.


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

Eventually, Richmond will be a psuedo island. All it will take is the river cutting a short swath to Hwy 90A on the west side to rejoin itself on the east side. May be 200 years or more from now, but Richmond Island will happen at some point.


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

NE Texas is getting hammered right now. :cloud:


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

Blk Jck 224 said:


> NE Texas is getting hammered right now. :cloud:


 Most all of the gauge stations from Bryan on up are dropping like a rock: the predicted levels at Hempstead are doing the same thing after it crests today. Hopefully by the time any 'new" water from when that storm crossed the Brazos watershed gets here there will be enough capacity in the riverbed to carry it; the reservoirs are all getting pretty full.


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## SA-POC (Jul 15, 2004)

*First hand info*

I am 1/2 way between Booth and Thompsons. Basically the opposite side of the Brazos as Sugarland in what is considered the Thompsons Bottom / Brazos River Bottom etc. There is a 900 approx. Acre ranch directly behind my house that borders the Brazos River. You can see from the pictures the Brazos River was ever so slowly creeping into my back yard this morning and filling every low lying area in our one street little community of Pecan Estates. Anything built after 94 was built up (my house) and everything before was built at ground level. It looks like the homes built at ground level will have water in them tonight or tomorrow morning. We are praying they don't.


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## mstrelectricman (Jul 10, 2009)

I see the folks that drilled that well knew what the river can do.


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## essayons75 (May 15, 2006)

I hope Reel Time's triple wide and bream pond are ok.


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

essayons75 said:


> I hope Reel Time's triple wide and bream pond are ok.


She should be fine. I passed by her shack this afternoon. Jones Creek is up but not too bad.


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## SA-POC (Jul 15, 2004)

Well head is high and dry. Not to much to worry about there.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I think the Brazos River is close to cresting at just below the record of 50 feet. I walked across the levee just North of the Southwest Freeway in Telfair 
and took this picture. The water has not reached the bottom of the levee. I estimate the levee to be 15-20 feet high. A little fuzzy due to Iphone zoom. Hopefully you will dodge a bullet on this one.


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## Oceola (Mar 25, 2007)

.


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## Shrimpguts (May 2, 2015)

Is that a rat snake?


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

Halp! Halp! ha


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## Bankin' On It (Feb 14, 2013)

Quote for pic: "S-S-S-Son-of-a..."


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

We seem to have crested at the San Felipe bridge sometime this morning: around 4-5 AM to be exact. It's hard to tell, since this one doesn't have a big "surge" like most previous floods have had: all we can really look at is where it tops out. There were two occasions, at 4:15 and 5:15 AM that the flow hit 89,900 cfs: It would probably take 12-18 hours, I would imagine, for that point to get to Rosenberg: I know 18 hours is a pretty good estimate from Hempstead to San Felipe, I don't know about the San Felipe to Rosenberg hop.. One way or another, it's not going to make much difference, the San Felipe had fluctuated all of six inches one way or the other in the last 36 hours or so..

One thing that I'm not sure just how it will shake out is the difference in flow: San Felipe and Hempstead above it both were running around 90K cfs at their peak, and Richmond is currently at 72K and climbing? Somewhere down the line, something's gotta give there. I don't know whether that'll manifest itself as just piling into lowlands between I-10 and Richmond, or a higher crest than they are predicting, or what... (or it could be just an error in measurement: best case scenario at this point)

It doesn't have any choice but to go through the levee bottleneck at 99, so it can't just do lowland flooding to ease that pressure.


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

Varner Creek in East Columbia Saturday
Brazos river bridge on 35


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Link to gauge heights.

http://www.brazos.org/usgsgaugingsystemold.asp

I use the graph radial button and then just hit go to set an instantaneous graph. Richmond is still inching up but very slowly so it doesn't appear to have peaked but it is close.


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## regulator (May 21, 2004)

Out in Simonton, we got lucky, all the planning and so forth seemed to work, the pumps paid off big time in my opinion, my Parents house was spared and my Father in Laws got wet just a little.. if the pumps werent pumping and the levee around rue road was not there it would of been a different story.... praying for the folks further down now....Thanks to all the volunteers.... you made a difference.


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## MEGABITE (May 21, 2004)

^Good deal!


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

It was pretty close to the bridge supports in West Columbia about an hour ago on my way back from Bay City. Colorado looks like it had gone down some from some of the pics I saw yesterday. They were letting a few barges through on the ICW at Matagorda.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Predictive models days the river at Richmond should start dropping 1-3 ft per day


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

fishingcacher said:


> Predictive models days the river at Richmond should start dropping 1-3 ft per day


If the levels upriver are any indication, think more of the "1" than the "3"... Going down slow.


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## wfishtx (Apr 10, 2006)

Any insight on why the Brazos has taken so long to crest and while the anticipation is that it will take a long time to come back down?

The Colorado seem to come up in a day or two and was back down just as fast.


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## kdubya (Jun 27, 2005)

wfishtx said:


> Any insight on why the Brazos has taken so long to crest and while the anticipation is that it will take a long time to come back down?
> 
> The Colorado seem to come up in a day or two and was back down just as fast.


More rain upstream from the storms Saturday (?) evening. Didnt affect the crest, but added to the amount of sustained runoff it is having to carry.

Kelly


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## BayouBonsaiMan (Apr 14, 2009)

Amazing to me that they predicted a 50' crest, seems to have crested yesterday around 2 pm at 49.97'!, Discharging 74,000 ft/sec
Colorado was discharging about 50,000 at its crest.
Think Brazos is bigger river.


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## BretE (Jan 24, 2008)

Here's a stupid question off the top of my head......why not create some reservoirs along the route of said rivers to trap this much needed water when we have these monsoon events. Seems it might help alleviate some of the drought rather than letting it all go to the gulf not to mention the property damage that would be averted......don't hammer me too bad,I haven't thought this out.....and its early.....


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

wfishtx said:


> Any insight on why the Brazos has taken so long to crest and while the anticipation is that it will take a long time to come back down?
> 
> The Colorado seem to come up in a day or two and was back down just as fast.


We've also had lake issues : the Colorado guys are still trying to fill up the highland lakes, even after this: Travis still has 13 feet and 22% left to go, Buchanan is only at 51%, etc.. The entire Colorado system is still only at 48% lake capacity.

The Brazos lakes, on the other hand, are a different story: they've got floodgates wide open. As of the weekend, Granbury was putting out 40K cfs by itself., Possum Kingdom was running at 18K, etc.: we've still got a helluva lot of water to come through yet. If you look at capacity percentages on all the major Brazos-watershed lakes, it's just a line of 100%'s..

http://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/basin/brazos

On the other hand, they've done a pretty admirable job of minimizing the flooding: some places just can't be helped, but a whole lot of the river has spent a week or so just a hair below flood stage: Between the Corps and the Brazos River Authority, plus whoever else had a hand in it, they've done a really good job of moving the maximum amount of water possible without it just going nuts on the flooding.. Small consolation to those that DID get flooded and still are, but it's prevented a lot of damage statewide.


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

BretE said:


> Here's a stupid question off the top of my head......why not create some reservoirs along the route of said rivers to trap this much needed water when we have these monsoon events. Seems it might help alleviate some of the drought rather than letting it all go to the gulf not to mention the property damage that would be averted......don't hammer me too bad,I haven't thought this out.....and its early.....


http://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/basin/brazos

Been there, done that. Full to the brim.

All the highland lakes on the Colorado, a bunch on assorted feeder creeks on the Brazos, etc.: they did a lot of just that back in the thirties, but if it's full, it's full. (and when it's empty, it's empty)


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## BretE (Jan 24, 2008)

dwilliams35 said:


> http://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/basin/brazos
> 
> Been there, done that. Full to the brim.


Yeah, saw your earlier post.....maybe time for a new lake or three? Not necessarily for property enhancement but retention.


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

BretE said:


> Yeah, saw your earlier post.....maybe time for a new lake or three? Not necessarily for property enhancement but retention.


Those things weren't for property enhancement at the time: Travis wasn't built for Lakeway and Lago Vista... I really don't know if we could build them anymore, between the environmental studies they'd have to hack through, eminent domain having to do the same, etc. etc. etc.: it seems they've just tightened up on building codes in flood zones rather than put the money into lakes. It would also be spectacularly more expensive: those were mostly built during the depression, with the CCC and other "agencies" hiring people left and right to do projects like this. Now we'd be doing it with straight-up contracts with private companies under OSHA, the EPA, the ADA, etc. etc. etc.: dams with a dozen or two bodies entombed in the concrete forever really wouldn't fly now...


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## txjustin (Jun 3, 2009)

BretE said:


> Here's a stupid question off the top of my head......why not create some reservoirs along the route of said rivers to trap this much needed water when we have these monsoon events. Seems it might help alleviate some of the drought rather than letting it all go to the gulf not to mention the property damage that would be averted......don't hammer me too bad,I haven't thought this out.....and its early.....


They are building one in Lane City very soon.

http://www.yoursoutheasttexas.com/news/lcra-breaks-ground-on-new-lane-city-reservoir


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

Corps site showing current releases on pretty much all the major Brazos basin lakes:

http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/cgi-bin/rcshtml.pl?page=Reports&report=fish


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

txjustin said:


> They are building one in Lane City very soon.
> 
> http://www.yoursoutheasttexas.com/news/lcra-breaks-ground-on-new-lane-city-reservoir


 They've been working on the Allen Creek reservoir in Austin county for decades now, too: sooner or later it'll happen, but it won't be much good for flood control, IMHO..

I really wasn't familiar with that Lane City project, doesn't look like it's got any significant flood-control aspect either.. Fine with me, we probably need water storage more than we really need flood control in the long run..


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## wfishtx (Apr 10, 2006)

dwilliams35 said:


> We've also had lake issues : the Colorado guys are still trying to fill up the highland lakes, even after this: Travis still has 13 feet and 22% left to go, Buchanan is only at 51%, etc.. The entire Colorado system is still only at 48% lake capacity.
> 
> The Brazos lakes, on the other hand, are a different story: they've got floodgates wide open. As of the weekend, Granbury was putting out 40K cfs by itself., Possum Kingdom was running at 18K, etc.: we've still got a helluva lot of water to come through yet. If you look at capacity percentages on all the major Brazos-watershed lakes, it's just a line of 100%'s..
> 
> ...


That helps and makes sense. Thanks for the insight.


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

dwilliams35 said:


> Those things weren't for property enhancement at the time: Travis wasn't built for Lakeway and Lago Vista... I really don't know if we could build them anymore, between the environmental studies they'd have to hack through, eminent domain having to do the same, etc. etc. etc.: it seems they've just tightened up on building codes in flood zones rather than put the money into lakes. It would also be spectacularly more expensive: those were mostly built during the depression, with the CCC and other "agencies" hiring people left and right to do projects like this. Now we'd be doing it with straight-up contracts with private companies under OSHA, the EPA, the ADA, etc. etc. etc.: dams with a dozen or two bodies entombed in the concrete forever really wouldn't fly now...


Whatever happened with the Frydek project at the Brazos the old HL&P acquired all the land for? I haven't heard anything or thought about it in 10 or more years now?


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

Haute Pursuit said:


> Whatever happened with the Frydek project at the Brazos the old HL&P acquired all the land for? I haven't heard anything or thought about it in 10 or more years now?


That's the Allens Creek project I mentioned before: it's still in the works, but doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast. It got tied up in some lawsuits for a while, different entities fighting over the water if I'm not mistaken. It was originally going to be a nuke power plant lake, that plant got scrapped so now it's just going to be another source that Houston can tap for municipal water..

http://www.brazos.org/acrFAQs.asp#status

The BRA put out a Request for Proposals three weeks ago on the project, for "environmental services and Dam and Intake engineering Services"... I guess that means it's still moving..


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

dwilliams35 said:


> That's the Allens Creek project I mentioned before: it's still in the works, but doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast. It got tied up in some lawsuits for a while, different entities fighting over the water if I'm not mistaken. It was originally going to be a nuke power plant lake, that plant got scrapped so now it's just going to be another source that Houston can tap for municipal water..
> 
> http://www.brazos.org/acrFAQs.asp#status
> 
> The BRA put out a Request for Proposals three weeks ago on the project, for "environmental services and Dam and Intake engineering Services"... I guess that means it's still moving..


Thanks. I knew the nuke plant was going nowhere. I bad no idea about what had happened with all the land they had acquired.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Looks like we will below flood stage today.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=HGX&gage=RMOT2


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