Months Later, Floods Still Plague Lake Grapevine
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GRAPEVINE (CBS11) - Nearly eight months after May's massive rains flooded our lakes and washed out nearby campgrounds and trails, many of those attractions remain closed at Lake Grapevine.
Jeremy's Reed's 10-week-old puppy, Ellie hasn't been alive long enough to know what Oak Grove Park is supposed to look like.
"There would be a beach over there beyond the pavilion right now, but it's under water," Reed said pointing out features past the point he was able to walk Ellie Thursday afternoon.
In fact many of Lake Grapevine's parks are still underwater as lake levels remain more than 13 feet higher than normal elevation following November's flooding. That came just as park officials had finally recovered from last spring.
"We had worked real hard to get everybody back in there, and unfortunately we only had folks in the park about five days and had to ask everybody to leave, so it was real disheartening with all the work that went into it, but again, Mother Nature took over, and so we're just kind of at that mercy," Grapevine Lake Parks and Events Manager Randy Sell said.
In the last few days, the Army Corps of Engineers has been able to maximize the rate of release, so they hope to bring water levels to normal elevation within a month. Until then, only one boat ramp is open to the public.
That's why Brice Griffith came a day early to launch the jet ski he and his friends plan to use tomorrow.
"Just so we don't have to wait in line tomorrow and get it in the water and get it on the dock, so when we come out, we can just get straight on the water and go do what we're going to do," Griffith said.
Even then, he and other boaters will have to be extra careful on the water.
"You got to stay really far from the shoreline. You don't want to hit anything, and it really causes the water to get really rough 'cause you can't stay close. It all bounces back," Griffith said.
Spring Break may be out of the question, but park officials are hoping to get many of these spots ready in time for Memorial Day weekend.
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