How Austin Lost Two Flood Gauges When It Needed Them Most
Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon/KUT News
Rescue teams on the scene in Southeast Austin assisting people stranded in rising flood waters. Heavy rains caused serious flooding in Onion Creek on Halloween.
Early on the morning of October 31st, as waters rose to historic levels in Onion Creek, two of the flood gauges that officials rely on to monitor water levels weren’t working. The flooding heavily damaged more than 600 homes and killed five. One gauge was completely submerged by water, damaging the equipment, which isn’t waterproof. But the other had malfunctioned before the flooding even began. And more than two weeks after the Halloween Floods, city and emergency officials still don’t know why.
The gauges, which are managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), provide emergency responders with critical information during floods about how fast and how high flood waters are rising. In Austin, there are 130 flood gauges that measure water levels, rainfall and low-water crossings 24 hours a day.
The second gauge, according to National Weather Service Hydrologist Mark Lenz, was having problems on October 30th, before the rains started. Lenz was stationed at the Weather Service station in New Braunfels that night, monitoring flood gauges throughout Central Texas.