The swollen Trinity River has residents in the riverfront subdivisions of Horseshoe Lake Estates, Mason Lake Estates and New River Lake Estates — areas in north Liberty County near Romayor and Dolen — seeing water over roads, but so far no homes have flooded, according to Crista Beasley-Adams, coordinator of the Liberty County Office of Emergency Management.
Water is slowly creeping up in Knights Forest but has not yet made the roads impassable as of Thursday night, she added.
“I have some residents in Knights Forest who have sent me photos from yesterday and today, and you can definitely see the difference, but water isn’t over the roads yet,” Beasley-Adams said. “The areas to the north always see it first before the water heads south to Hardin, Dayton and Liberty.”
The most recent projections for when the river will crest have changed slightly in the last 24 hours. It is expected to crest at the Liberty gauge between Sunday and Monday, instead of what was previously reported of Saturday and Sunday. The river will crest in Liberty at 29.6 feet and Beasley-Adams said it will remain high for several days.
As of Thursday evening, the Liberty river gauge is at 28.33 feet; in Romayor, the gauge is at 37.65 feet and will crest at 39.6 feet; in Moss Bluff, the gauge is at 12.24 feet and will crest at 15 feet. If more rain drops in the river basin in the next few days, the projections will be adjusted.
“The rain we are getting now is from storms that passed through the Dallas area a week ago,” she said.
Since that time, more rain has fallen north of the Lake Livingston dam and that is being factored in when the Trinity River Authority determines the dam release rate, according to Beasley-Adams.
The emergency management coordinator doesn’t expect any surprises to warrant major adjustments in the dam release rates or the crests of the river, but after years in emergency management, she knows that the best-laid plans can go awry.
“Things should start to level off soon, but that is always subject to change. Rain is in the forecast,” she said.
By Vanesa Brashier, editor@bluebonnetnews.com