Droughts, Floods Make Life Challenging For Lakeside Homeowners
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GRAND PRAIRIE (CBSDFW) - No matter where you live in North Texas, chances are there's a lake nearby.
Nearly all of them are man-made, and most are primarily for flood control and irrigation, although they do offer recreational opportunities.
And for the last few years, it's been hard for people to enjoy the lakes -- their levels have either been too low because of the drought or too high because of the floods.
"It's really messed up my fishing," says Dugan Finnell.
"We couldn't get out onto the water to fish or any boating activity, (because) all the ramps have been shut down," says Jennifer Hudson.
It's especially been hard on people who bought lakefront property, giving them seemingly endless access to the water.
Lisa Bohannon bought a home along the shores of Lake Kiowa, a little more than an hour north of Dallas.
In the three years she's lived there, she has experienced both extremes.
"We've been here long enough to be able to see a drought and a flood," Bohannon says.
And she quickly realized that when the lake is not at an ideal level, the only thing she could do is to simply enjoy the view.
"We're unable to enjoy the lake other than just sitting there looking at it," Bohannon says. "We want to be able to lay out in the water and play in the water. . .and you can't do that when the lake levels are down."
Lake Kiowa Community Manager Charlie Foster says when the lake is not at its optimum level, getting into the water can be dangerous.
"When the levels are high, there's stuff floating in the lake," says Foster. "When the levels are low, there's stuff that you hadn't seen before when the levels were high."
High water levels can present a different set of challenges.
Pete Mason also has lakefront property along Lake Kiowa. He says when the floods hit earlier this year, he made the mistake of not securing his boat to his dock.
"My boat actually floated out of the dock, moved up four or five houses from ours and stationed itself between their dock and the shoreline," Mason says.
Mason was lucky, though -- his boat didn't sustain any damage.
Floods Also Make Life Challenging For Lakefront Businesses
Like most other lakefront businesses, the Oasis seafood restaurant on the banks of Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie relies on a brisk summer season.
Unfortunately, the restaurant was shuttered all summer long due to the massive flooding from this past spring.
The images are indelible -- the parking lot transformed into a swimming pool, and a makeshift bridge intended to take people over the flooded parking lot into the restaurant that the city nixed.
Dustin Jones, who had worked as a server at the Oasis, remembers the day when floodwaters ravaged the business.
"By the time we got inside, the water had pushed back across the first parking lot," says Jones. "By the time we left, it was back into the second parking lot, and we were swimming in the parking lot."
But despite the loss of the brisk summer business, going out of business was never an option.
"There were all kinds of rumors that we were never going to open or the building was severely damaged," says Nick Maglares, the manager of the Oasis. "None of that was true. . .We knew we were going to reopen -- it was just a matter of 'when'."
That "when" was this past weekend.
Maglaras says the reopening was a soft reopening, with the restaurant unable to serve hot food until the gas line is inspected.
The closure hit not only the restaurant owners hard, but also the employees.
"I lost my job due to the flooding," says Jones.
But the restaurant was still able to use Jones' services as it worked to reopen.
"I came back to see if they were reopening soon, and they offered me a job to come up here and do some handyman work for them."
Jones says the restored Oasis will be better than ever.
"We're going to have a double-decker patio now," Jones says. "So that'll create a lot more space out there in the summertime."
Maglaras says the restaurant has built a loyal clientele in the 23 years it's been open.
"The community has been supportive," Maglaras says. "We've been inundated with phone calls asking us when we were going to reopen."
Maglaras says he's confident that the restaurant not only will survive but also thrive.
"Of course we lost a lot of business (this summer)," Maglaras says. "It's going to be a tough year for us. That's all."
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