The cycles may be longer than 15 minutes, but the extremes between drought and flash floods in Central Texas have Bell County residents weary.
A year ago, Belton Lake was down more than 7.5 feet from its normal level and owners were worried about their boats going aground in their slips at local marinas.
A wet spring followed by torrential rains in June changed the situation. Belton Lake was more than 22 feet above normal Friday and rising at the rate of 2-3 feet a day.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the gates to both Belton Dam and the Stillhouse Reservoir Dam on Tuesday to control the outflow to creeks and rivers downstream.
The Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area is closed, said Mike Mennor, the recreation area’s director, as are many other parks and recreational facilities at the two lakes.
Rising water at BLORA has swamped picnic areas, barbecue pits and restrooms.
“We don’t know how long this will last,” Mennor said. “It could be two or three weeks. We just don’t know.”
BLORA marina manager Freddie Donaway said crews have added slack to tether cables at the marina, allowing docks to rise with the lake. He has been moving rental boats to dry storage and has asked private owners to remove trailerable boats. Owners of larger craft have been asked to seek safe harbor in other locations.
Because of rising waters, the distance from the shore to the floating boat docks has increased from the normal of about 50 feet to at least 300 feet.
“We’ve been ferrying boat owners out to the marina the last three weeks,” he said. “But right now we are in the process of taking everything out of the water.”
He said concerns about high winds from future thunderstorms damaging boats and the marina prompted the decision to move boats.
Juan Duenas, a recreational specialist, said the rising water is the highest he’s seen since he moved to the area in 1992.
Glen Pierce, a maintenance manager, said flood conditions are worse than the flash flood of November 2004 that drove water into the parking lot.
“We’re checking the cables two and three times a day and letting them out,” Pierce said Friday afternoon. “The level has gone up a foot and a half since this morning.”
Public works cut off power to the marina before the massive transformers that service it went under water, he said.
Donaway said spools on the marina docks have enough cable to keep boat slips floating if the lake rises another five feet; beyond is uncertain.
At Frank’s Marina, manager Wes Ferguson said they have bought 1,000 feet of new cable in case it has to be welded to the current strands on the spools as the water rises. The marina is in a sheltered cove and lessens the worry of high winds so boat owners are not being asked to pull out.
The marina parking lot is under water and the roadway to it blocked off. At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer boat launch next door, the turnaround area is flooded. As a result, Ferguson said boat owners with personal watercraft and speedboats on trailers are backing them down the ramp.
Glen Baker, manager at the Morgan’s Point Marina, said things there are in good shape. The lower parking lot is flooded and the main bridge closed, but he said his upper parking lot is OK and a backup emergency bridge at one end of the docks has been opened so boat owners are not being ferried back and forth.
“Last year - during the drought - we were talking about floating the marina further out in the lake,” he said. “I’m glad we didn’t do that.”
Eric Bailey pulled in to gas up his Supra SSV speedboat.
“You have to stay in the middle of the lake,” Bailey said. “If you come in close to shore you don’t know what’s under you. It could be trees or most anything.”
Bailey said in the middle of the lake he’s encountering a lot of logs adrift. He keeps a lookout on the bow to keep from hitting them.
From famine to feast, boat owners have no idea what the next “15 minutes” of weather has in store for them.
hclark@temple-telegram.com
