West Texas reservoirs got a nice bump in water levels thanks to a large rain event the past few days that swept across the state.
The areas to see the greatest impact occurred near San Angelo, where OH. Ivie and O.C. Fisher reservoirs each came up significant amounts.
As of today, O.H. Ivie was up 12 feet and O.C. Fisher was up almost 10 feet.
That is great news to a lot of anglers in that area.
The central portion of the state did not receive as much rainfall as out wet, but still got significant amounts that helped fill tanks and make rivers rise.
“We are getting some rises, but they are pretty minimal,” said John Tibbs, inland fisheries biologist for TPWD near Waco. “Lake Waco didn’t rise more than 12 inches and Lake Granbury got 3/10s of a foot. But a lot of reservoirs out west got a lot and that was really needed.”
Marcos de Jesus, a biologist near San Marcos, said the area around San Antonio did catch some rain and in the right spots.
“We got three inches,” he said, “and it is always good to catch water, especially when it rains in the right spots. Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan are the main two in this area that needed water and they did catch some. But it will take a lot more to get back to normal. I don’t think it was enough to open any of the boat ramps that were closed.”
According to a release by the Texas AgriLife Extension office, the rains generally came slowly and continued over a period of three or more days, according to regional reports. This meant that flooding and washouts were minimal as the moisture had time to soak in.
“Since the first of the year we had 0.85 inch; the driest in a century,” said Steve Byrns, AgriLife Extension communications specialist, San Angelo. “But since Friday (May 23) at my house, I’ve had almost a foot of rain — including 1.5 inches we received last Monday night. What a blessing.”
Miller noted that some areas were passed over. Only the more western counties in South Texas received rain, about 1.5 inches in some cases. In the Rolling Plains, the western counties got about 4 inches, while the eastern half of the region was largely left dry.
Photo by Steve Byrns.
