Floods Wreak Havoc in Brownwood and Cisco

Recent severe weather in Texas has caused floods throughout the state. Brownwood City Manager Emily Crawford said that the city has had high water for about seven consecutive days. Lake Brownwood was filled with watershed from all over the area and has been running over the spillway for several days; consequently, water from the lake comes down the Pecan Bayou and goes through Brownwood.

According to National Weather Service Forecaster Michael Decker, the Pecan Bayou is continuing to rise from its level of around 14 feet; the NWS expects the water to rise roughly another foot. The Bayou is expected to get to about 15 feet this afternoon and peak to around 15.9 feet on Saturday.

Crawford said that the water level in the Pecan Bayou had gone down a few days ago; however, throughout last night and this morning, water levels began to increase again.

Brownwood has even been forced to evacuate parts of the city. An apartment complex chose to evacuate several days ago. Since that time though, the city has not had any additional evacuations.

“I think for the most part, people are very grateful that we have not had high water levels [in most areas],” Crawford said. “Certainly, we have not had any residences that have been impacted. If the levels do get higher than what we experienced this week, I would expect that there would be more evacuations.”

Additionally, some businesses in Brownwood have had to close. Crawford said the water levels were so high in the streets surrounding these businesses that people could not even access the buildings. Other businesses had parking lots so full of water that there was nowhere to park.

The NWS is not expecting any additional heavy rains in the Brownwood area; however, Decker said that the area would “certainly” see light rains for the rest of the afternoon and tonight.

Decker said that the upper low was right over the Brownwood area around 1 p.m. today and is moving in a slow southwestern movement at the moment. The upper low is heading further back eastward and the rainfall’s going to be “cutting off” from most areas tonight.

“We just want to always remind the public that the high water is certainly interesting to watch but it is very dangerous,” Crawford said. “We advise [citizens] to continue to stay away from high water, especially in bridges and especially not to go around barricades.”

Tomorrow there is a 30 percent chance of showers, but Decker said that the rainfall amount should be at a tenth of an inch or less over most areas. By tomorrow night, the area will have clear skies into most of next week and Brownwood will finally have a chance for the water to recede. As of this afternoon, all Brownwood streets are now open for traffic, with the exception of Riverside Park Drive at Market Street at the entrance of Riverside Park. Furthermore, Riverside and Fabis Parks remain closed.

Cisco has received a notable amount of flooding in the area as well. Since the water plant was completely covered in water yesterday, there is no way for the city to pump treated water from the plant to the citizens. Therefore, the city’s main concern is the water supply. Cisco is currently trying to repair the inoperative plant; in the meantime, the only reliable supply of drinkable water is from the city’s water tower. A representative with Cisco City Hall said that there is a possibility that the town may run out of water.

“We’ve already told people we need to be very conservative and we need to stockpile some bottled water,” our source said. “We’ve had lots and lots of donations of bottled water. We really appreciate that.”

State Highway 6 has been devastated by Lake Cisco; the waters have cut a deep gorge into the road, making it impassible until further notice.

The mayor has declared a local state of disaster and the city of Cisco has initiated stage 3 of its drought contingency plan. According to the plan, the city is aiming to use less than 1.5 million gallons per day.

“All outdoor water use is prohibited,” the document detailing the plan reads. “Water should be used only for essential functions and a boil water notice has been issued for those functions as well.”

Residences north of the city around Lake Cisco have been particularly affected by the floods. By order of the mayor, residents of North Shore Drive and low lying areas of South Shore Drive were evacuated yesterday. Unfortunately, our source said that these people won’t be returning to their homes anytime soon.

Our source also said that the water levels in Cisco have receded today. She called this period of floods a “stressful time in the city,” but there are those who are willing to come to Cisco’s aid.

“We’ve had so many calls from all over the state for people offering help [and] bringing water,” our source said. “We appreciate very much everybody’s concern for us.”

Check out San Angelo LIVE!'s report on San Angelo floods from earlier this week. For tips involving severe storm safety, consult San Angelo LIVE!’s previous article concerning the subject.