Posted: Wed, 6 May 2015 07:00 AM - 40,251 Readers

By: Steve Newton - KVUE News

The thunderstorms and heavy rain that moved through Travis, Williamson and Bastrop Counties late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning were beneficial for the Austin and lower Basins of the Colorado River, but lakes upstream saw little impact.

With the rain centralized over Travis County and Austin, some locations in the Lake Travis basin did see more than one inch of rain, but only two sites (Cedar Park and Mansfield Dam) saw more than three inches of rain. The Mansfield Dam sensor recorded nearly 3.5 inches rain during the storm.

Further upriver, no sites in the Lake LBJ watershed saw more than one-quarter inch of rain. Six sites in the Lake Buchanan basin saw more than one-quarter inch of rain, but none of those sites reached above one-half inch.

The most rain recorded in the LCRA network from Tuesday night's storm was west and northwest of downtown. The sensor at Bunny Run Farm near the Austin Country Club recorded 4.90 inches or rain. A sensor near Jollyville along Bull Creek reported 4.57 inches rain; and the Bull Creek sensor at Loop 360 recorded 4.47 inches rain. Overall, Lake Austin rose 0.64 feet, or about 7 inches from the rain, but Lake Travis only rose about 3 inches.


According to the National Weather Service, both Camp Mabry and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport broke daily rainfall records for May 5. Camp Mabry recorded 3.84 inches, breaking 1919's record of 2.79 inches for the date. ABIA saw 1.74 inches of rain, breaking the 1976 record of 0.91 inches.

Locations east and northeast of Austin saw heavy rain and flooding from the storms.