Flooding at Lewisville Lake, a New Record

The sun is out and the flood waters at Lewisville Lake have begun to recede, but "begun" is the operative word.  This is going to be a very slow process. 

From USGS (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/uv?cb_00062=on&format=gif_default&site_no=08052800) on 06-02-2015 at 13:30 CDT

The lake set a new record high level of 536.95 feet above sea level at 1:00 am Sunday morning, May 31.  This is the apparent downward corrected figure from the preliminary number of 537.02'...can they really measure the height of the water with that amount of accuracy??  The previous record was 536.73' in May 1990.  The important thing is that it got up to (but not over) 537', which is the flow easement.  At that height it is five feet over the spillway, which is at 532'.  All of this is well above the "normal" or conservation level of 522'.

As of 1:30 this afternoon, the lake had dropped to 536.18'.   Because of flooding of the Trinity River downstream, the Lewisville Lake flood gates are closed.  However, lots of water is rushing uncontrollably over the spillway.  That will continue until it drops to the level of the spillway, 532'.  In the last few days we have seen flow rates in the river below the dam as high as 21,000 cubic feet per second.  As the level of the water drops, the flow rate over the spillway has also dropped, now to about 15,000 cfs.  The Army Corps of Engineers is not likely to increase the flow rate anytime soon, because the Trinity River is still above flood stage down stream, e.g. at Dallas.

Even though the problems have not been great here, many things have not returned to normal.  All boat traffic is currently forbidden on Lewisville Lake.  The DCTA A-train is not operating along its entire line (Denton to Carrollton) due to water over the tracks in some locations.  Highland Village Road is still closed near I-35E.  Our trash pick-up is running behind schedule because access to the dump is flooded and the trash trucks are having to go to another dump which is further away.  Of course, all of the various parks and trails near the lake are closed.  These are VERY minor problems compared to the flooding of homes and apartments elsewhere.

We walked to the lake Sunday morning to check it out.  That required a somewhat circuitous route  because Sellmeyer is closed for road construction.  The S-curve is being removed. This is part of the construction of a new housing development called Wichita Estates, which will be east of Sellmeyer and south of Wichita Forest park, the dense green area in the Google earth shot below.

The approximate locations of the following pictures, all along Highland Village Road north of Wichita Forest, are shown on the Google earth shot above.  When we were there on Sunday morning the lake was at approximately 537'.

1.  The first shot is looking east along Highland Village Road from the corner of  Highland Village Road and Sellmeyer Lane.  There is nothing particularly extraordinary in this shot until you realize that the lake ahead on the left is actually the parking lot to the boat docks.

Looking east along Highland Village Road and the pedestrian/bike path from the corner of Highland Village Road and Sellmeyer Lane

2.  Next up is the entrance to the new park north of Highland Village Road, Lakeside Community Park.  It was nearly complete before the rains began, but is now largely under water.

It is not necessarily apparent in these shots, but the water was right up to the edge of Highland Village Road on both sides. I am not sure the sandbags would have helped much if the water would have risen further, but they do prevent water washing onto the road from waves/wakes.

Entrance to the parking lot of Lakeside Community Park.  The paved trail that circles the park is in the background.

Entrance to Lakeside Community Park looking a bit more towards the east.  The trail that circles the park is adjacent to the light pole.

3.  This is the entrance to the boat docks.  The green in the foreground around and beyond the fire hydrant is NOT dirt/grass, it is algae and scum floating on top of the water.  The lake was several inches up on the bottom of  the fire hydrant. 

Entrance to the boat docks with water up to the edge of Highland Village Road

 

Entrance to the boat docks from street view on Google earth with the lake at a more normal level.  Although not apparent in this shot, there is a significant drop in elevation from the road down to the parking lot.

 4.  Looking south along the eastern edge of Wichita Forest.  The construction fence surrounds the park due to road construction.  This muddy mess will eventually be a road that leads to a new housing development further south.  The "puddle" across the center of the picture is the minor creek through the park which is now part of Lewisville Lake. 

All of these pictures show Lewisville Lake at its new record level of approximately 537'.  I hope we never see it at this level again.