AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - This week’s heavy rains are helping boost lake levels in two major Central Texas reservoirs but officials say it’s far too soon to declare the persistent drought is over.
Lake Travis is up 2½ feet and Lake Buchanan has risen 1½ feet over the past few days. Officials expect the lakes that provide water to Austin and numerous area communities to rise another foot as streams and rivers dump the runoff from as much as 7 inches of recent rain into the reservoirs.
Chris Riley, the supervisor of the river operations center at the Lower Colorado River Authority, tells the Austin American-Statesman (https://bit.ly/1nwP5MH ) the rain helps, but it’s not enough.
As of Wednesday, Lake Buchanan is still 24.5 feet below average. Lake Travis is 42.8 feet below average.
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Information from: Austin American-Statesman, https://www.statesman.com
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