Posted: Thu, 4 Apr 2013 08:22 PM - 19,870 Readers

By: Devin Monk - Lake Travis View

Drivers and high waters both rushed down some of the same roads as a front deluged the south Lake Travis area with rain and hail April 2.

Up to 3 inches of rain fell in the Spicewood area, according to Pedernales Fire Department officials, and closed Bee Creek Road at its low-water crossings, R.O. Drive and Pedernales Canyon Trail for two to three hours from about 4-7 p.m.

Engineer Jared Mikeska, Pedernales Fire Department public information officer, said one driver was caught in between two low-water crossings on Bee Creek Road and could not leave the area.

“That is a scare, especially with the low-water crossings, and with the type of rain that we had with the flash flooding,” Mikeska said, praising drivers for following the “Turn Around, Don’t Drown” slogan. As little as 18 inches of water can stall a vehicle.

Power outages affected some residents as well during the storms that pelted the area with pea-size hail.

Pedernales Electric Cooperative restored power to 12 residences, Mikeska said. About 2,000 Austin Energy customers were without power at one point Tuesday, though that number was down to 400 by late evening. The utility said that power surges typically caused by tree limbs on power lines had damaged equipment in many places.

Power went out at Bee Cave Police Department a little bit before 5 p.m. and was restored at about 9 p.m.

“We were still fully operational, so there weren’t any missed calls,” said Lt. Vicente Montez who monitored the low-water crossing at The Homestead. “No one went without police service.”

Bee Cave police officers directed traffic while the traffic signals at Bee Cave Parkway and RM 620 were without power from about 4:30-9 p.m.

Lakeway experienced high waters on Lakeway Drive for about 45 minutes and on Medical Parkway at Lakeway Regional Medical Center, but Police Chief Todd Radford said the weather did not result in any emergency calls for the department.

Despite looking promising, the soggy weather did not offer much relief from the Central Texas drought.

“My guess is that it would take many, many of these to put any dent in the drought,” National Weather Service forecaster Joe Baskin said of Tuesday’s rainfall.