LCRA says Lake Travis is full

The Lower Colorado River Authority posted five things on its Facebook page today about what it really means for Lake Travis to be 100% full. Does it really mean that the lake is at full capacity? FOX 7 meteorologist Kerry Burgess has more on what that 100% actually means. Well, I'm in Llano right now, in Llano County, and back behind me is the big famous bridge over here on Highway 16. Right now, the water's a little bit muddy, thanks to rainfall that occurred with last weekend's storm system, and we have more rainfall on the way, potentially this weekend. Earlier today, LCRA posted a graphic on their Facebook page, which was interesting. I found it interesting. There are five things to know when Lake Travis is full, and does that mean it's technically full to the point of overflow? Not necessarily. Full isn't the top. Lake Travis is considered full at 681 feet above mean sea level. But Mansfield Dam was actually meant and built to hold another 33 foot of water in there in the event of extreme heavy rainfall. With the Highland Lakes that are about six or seven of them behind me here, it is actually designed to contain floodwaters in a more balanced stage so that the water just doesn't rush downstream into Austin without any kind of support system in place to protect the Austin area. That's a lot of room. So the 33 feet can hold an extra 776,062 acre-feet of water. To put that in perspective, that's about as much as what Lake Buchanan is when it's full just down the road. And it's about 31 Lake Austins if you put them all together. That's the amount of water that Lake Travis can still hold even though it's at 100%. And that's because there is always a plan in place for high water. When Lake Travis rises into that flood pool, the LCRA will follow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers protocols to release the water downstream. And that depends on the lake level, the flooding conditions, flows downstream, Austin, Bastrop, and Columbus, which ends up pretty close to the Houston area. And a fun fact for you. Thank you. Mansfield Dam has never been over the spillway. The water hasn't been over the spillway in its entire history. Water would only flow over the spillway if Lake Travis reached 714 feet. And that has never happened in the entire dam's history. But with wet weather in the forecast this fall and winter, who knows what can happen. The weather's crazy here in Central Texas. Full lakes mean less room to spare. Additional rain could require us to open up the floodgates. That's according to the LCRA. And stay weather aware. Sign up for flood alerts. Of course, you can always download our WAP, the weather app, at the app store to stay up to date with the latest weather conditions. Reporting in Llano, I'm Fox 7 meteorologist Kerry Burgess.