Heartbreaking photos of desert-like Lake Travis during the 2011 Texas drought
Last night, Texas Parks & Wildlife posted photos of Lake Travis on their Facebook page. Looking more like scenes out of some post-apocalyptic movie than a sportsman’s paradise, landlocked boats and docks sit in the middle of a desert wasteland. These are probably the most heartbreaking photos I’ve seen of the devastating effects of more than 10 months of drought.
Have you ever seen it this dry?
Photos of Lake Travis during the Texas drought
View of the Pedernales River from Hwy 71 bridge west of Paleface Park. (PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN/TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE)
Lake Travis, Austin, Texas (PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN/TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE)
Lake Travis at 46.52 feet below normal. (PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN/TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE)
You can see the full set of drought photos on Texas Parks and Wildlife Facebook page.
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I think they’re really beautiful. And those verdant plants and pools of water are probably keeping a lot of animals alive right now.
True. There is something beautiful and post-apocalyptic about the pics. Lake Travis is a manmade lake. I wonder how it’d be if it was still a river. Would we have a drought?
Well definitely still a drought. The Colorado is fed by ground water, so if the rest of the state is drought-ridden the Colorado would be too.
Lake Buchanan and Travis are still at 43% of capacity which seems to be pretty good management for the worst drought on record.
In looking for more info I found this site:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/floodhistory.htm
Which is somewhat scary to think about even as we dream of rain. Granted Austin has done a massive amount of work to mitigate the impact of flash flooding since then, but it’s still scary.
Wow amazing. I was talking to a friend in Dallas and he told me to check out the photos of Lake Travis. How long and how much rain will be required to refill the lake. This is a total bummer for the residents on the lake.
All i have to say is that this is not right. This makes me cry every time i see a picture. My grandma lives on lake travis and she has no water. We have found multiple dead animals and abandoned baby deer. Its really sad for her because she is part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Courtney, thanks for sharing your grandma’s story. It’s so disheartening to see all of the animals and livestock affected by the drought. Let’s just all hope and pray that we get rain soon.
I hope you guys get some rain soon. I live up in Washington State, If I could send you ours I would. I grew up in Texas and we use to camp at Lake Travis in the mid to late 80s and my folks have even more memories of it. We just saw these pics today and couldn’t believe it. We have some great old home video of our trips down there. (Video that has to be played on a reel to reel with no sound haha..old).
It’s so sad to see the lake the way it is, instead of swimming in Lake Travis you can now walk it.
I’m so sorry about what’s happening there I haven’t lived there for two years it’s sucks living here and submit more pics
Things are certainly getting scary. We experienced a similar circumstance recently in Georgia. I want to encourage homeowners in being proactive. A popular, simple and very cost effective means of improving water efficiency can be found at http://www.DualFlushPro.com. I have tested this product along with several similar kits and find them to be the most value for the money. This site regularly runs special deals.
AP