Austin Texas News

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – The Austin Fire Department lifted the two day waterway ban but that didn’t matter to several people who had been ignoring it. Fire Chief Joel Baker issued the ban for certain parts of Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake due to heavy rains that caused some flooding in the area but it didn’t deter some from getting on the water.  Lake patrol says they were ready. There is not word…

AUSTIN, Texas — Famous country music artist Josh Abbott was recognized by the Texas House of Representatives on Monday for his help with relief efforts after Hurricane Harvey. According to Rep. Drew Springer out of District 68, Abbott went to Rockport after Hurricane Harvey to help feed first responders. Springer posted a photo to Twitter on Monday of himself, Rep. Dustin Burrows and Abbott posing for the camera while helping after the disaster. RELATED: Josh…

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – Slammed by severe storms, the Barton Creek Greenbelt has been closed for the past week.  “It’s slippery, it’s wet, it causes erosion and right now the parks department has deemed that it’s not yet safe to go back into the parks.” explained LeAnn Ishcomer, a park ranger with the City of Austin.  Most formal park entrances have locks and signs, demanding potential park-goers to keep out. But, that hasn’t…

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – After being hit by a devastating flood last week Homespun Kitchen and Bar is now back in business and customers say they couldn’t be more thrilled. It’s hard to believe that just a week ago the restaurant located in Dripping Springs was filled with more than four feet of water.  About 60 people were in the restaurant at the time of the flood and were able to make…

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – The size of the landslide can clearly be seen from SkyFOX Drone. The new collapse into Shoal Creek sheared off a larger section that first fell a year ago. “We really want to emphasis the fact that the landslide is still very unstable, we encourage the public to stay away from the landslide area and from the creek and damaged trail below it,” said Diana Wang with Austin Watershed…

A Flash Flood Watch is in effect through Saturday evening at 7pm as we expect several more rounds of heavy rain Friday and Saturday. Floodgate operations are currently underway at Buchanan Dam and Mansfield Dam as of Thursday evening. An additional floodgate has also been partially opened at Tom Miller Dam. Scattered showers and storms are possible Friday afternoon and evening. A disturbance will move into the state early Saturday, allowing for numerous showers and…

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – The floodgates are open. “We’ve had a significant amount of rain fall in our watershed over the past week. As many of our central Texans are aware we’ve had some regional sized flooding throughout the Colorado River system,” said John Hoffmann the LCRS executive Vice President. The Lower Colorado River Authority spent Thursday opening floodgates across the area. For the Tom Miller Dam, they plan to partially open 2…

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – On average, more than 130 tornadoes form in Texas each year. That means more tornadoes happen in Texas than any other state in the U.S.  Now, researchers at Texas Tech University are working on a project they hope will improve the speed and accuracy of tornado detection in the future.  Next week, the “Targeted Observation by Radars and Unmanned Aircraft Systems of Supercells,” or “TORUS,” project will begin. The project…

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas — There are still some low-water crossings that are being heavily impacted by the flooding. Some are in Dripping Springs are also looking past the flooding and coming together to get back to normal. Working together makes everything a whole lot easier. “Yeah, we’re trying to recover from that, obviously this thing needs a good cleaning after all the water that was in here,” said Ciara Moloney, an employee at Homespun. “So…

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – Austin City Council members Alison Alter and Leslie Pool held a press conference ahead of Thursday’s council meeting about two environmentally-focused resolutions. Pool’s item: supporting as a City, the Congressional legislation called the “Green New Deal” introduced by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Several other cities across the country support the Green New Deal for the same reasons we do, because it recognizes the value of connecting climate resilience with…

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – For the past several days, water has been released from Lake Austin through a single gate at the Tom Miller Dam. The limited release was done to reduce the flood threat downstream on the Colorado River south of Austin. The slow release resulted in water continuing to build up in Lake Travis behind Mansfield Dam. That had water creeping into Graveyard Point. It’s a familiar sight for Della Robbins and…

It’s severe weather season and some Central Texas residents have already been faced with storm damage, especially those residents east of the city. With more storms expected the rest of this week, it’s important to be prepared in case you need to hire a contractor to make repairs. But, you also have to watch out for scams! BBB’s Jarrod Wise joins us to talk about some things you can do to prepare and what to…

AUSTIN, Texas — A Flash Flood Watch is in effect through Saturday evening as we expect several more rounds of heavy rain in the days to come. Scattered showers and storms will return Thursday, especially late in the day, as a front moves into the region. Rain chances increase to 60% for Thursday evening. Isolated severe thunderstorms will be possible Thursday afternoon and evening. The “slight risk” — level two out of five — is…

Many low water crossings in Williamson County are closed, especially those along Brushy Creek in Round Rock, after thunderstorms blew through Central Texas Wednesday. “It was almost like driving in the dark,” said Felicia Coleman who lives in Round Rock. The amount of rain was enough to spark closures like one low water crossing off Brushy Bend Road near Cedar Park which was completely engulfed in water. “The skies just opened up and you knew there…