Powerhouse bridge.

I just returned from Beaver's Bend. My wife and I stayed in a Park cabin for the weekend. It rained all day yesterday, often hard, till about 5. They closed the roads to through traffic yesterday evening before dark. I think some areas of the Park were evacuated, but the higher cabins where we were were not. They are well above the current flooded level of the river.

This morning as we were leaving I drove in the direction of the swimming area to see what I could. The rangers had a blockade well before and above the little intersection. You could see down toward the intersection that it was underwater. The ranger told me that the gates were open to 16". I drove the other way down to the camper campground and the Z2 gate. The river was within its banks, but not by too much, and flowing very fast. The camper-trailers had all been evacuated. The cabins just upstream, like ours, had not been evacuated. The lady at the Park office said that the canoe concession had lost canoes and kayaks and that the Flyshop had lost inventory. Eddie, at his website, has not mentioned his inventory. This looks really bad for the fishery, but I pray especially that livelihoods are not affected.

Here are some very disturbing pics of what is happening there right now. Hopes for this to end soon are out there and everyone will do their best to help rebuild no doubt.

LMFRF website w/pics

The LMFRF pictures are bad news. There will be a lot of damage from this.

A couple of scary videos are on the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation FB page

I just returned today from BB. we fished below the spillway Saturday. we drove across the bridge in the pics yesterday afternoon. Sad to see these pics.

I wonder if it would ease the damage if they slowly opened the gates instead of sending down a tidal wave.

You mean, in the future?

This was a "gradual" build up to this level. They have even been bumping up the low flow valve to where it's at now. The river channel in Zone 1, upper end, is able to hold about 1200 cfs at max. 21700 is way over the top and no matter how gradually the flow is increased it will cause this kind of even when it's this high.

Just too much water. But they are getting potable water in there now. The water treatment building at the powerhouse has been shut down due to the flooding going on. Electrical equipment fears.

Last 2 weeks they have been generating off and on. Sure wish they had just generated 24/7. Might have helped prevent this.

This is almost like loosing a good friend, which is not nearly as bad as the people who make their livelihood off that river and that area. Sad, very sad. RIP LMF.

After watching the Corp handle Lake of the Pines locally, I'm not sure I trust those "kids". Yeah, if you ever called them you will realize why I call them "kids"....cause most of them are. I'm not sure they even know what they are doing.

Not sure if their Corp is the same way, but the Ft. Worth District is a joke.

They should have been letting water out for a month at most places.

Beavers Bend State Park FB Page



Here is the word on how long this may take to fix. There are rumors of several months that the park is closed this summer. Lots of lost time, money and livelihood there.

Blessedly, no one was killed. That's the only way this doesn't suck. From what I understand this event projects at least somewhat worse than 2009. I'd guess the Park and fishing are closed for the rest of 2015.

Yeah you'd think they will shut it all down until the State feels like the park is safe for any and all tourists again (including fisherman). They don't want the liability. This means replacing roads, downed/compromised bridges, etc... You can bet that the entire summer/fall is gone at the least.

Other than the south end of the park with all the cabins, the bulk of the tourism is on the bend of the river, which is all destroyed. I'm willing to bet that the Evening Hole and Fly Shop bridges will be toast. We already know the Cold Hole bridge is long gone.

Well it appears that the COE has cut back the flow to 16000 cfs out of the gates.