Heavy storms late Tuesday and early Wednesday dumped four inches of rain in the Comal River area and New Braunfels Police closed the river to recreational activities today.
The Comal was running at 4,500 cubic feet per second by late Wednesday morning, flowing over the Tube Chute dam and over the banks at Hinman Island. David Ferguson is the spokesman for the New Braunfels Police Department and says the river wasn't safe at that level.
"It’s all very murky. In fact we often refer to it as ‘chocolate milk.’ It’s very brown and there’s debris in the water.”
Even the Dry Comal Creek was moving fast, flowing at 4,700 cfs.
Ferguson says homes and businesses in the area above Landa Park suffered dramatic flood damage from the overflowing creek bed in 1998, but that's not expected to happen these days.
“There’s a flood retarding structure now and it’s just upstream from the city. And it collects a lot of the water that used to cause flooding in downtown New Braunfels - Landa Street, the Herald offices and that kind of thing. It would be very difficult for that area to flood again, thanks to that flood control dam.”
There are more rains expected Thursday, but Ferguson is confident the river will recede in time to get repairs to the Tube Chute and anything else that gets damaged in time for Memorial Day crowds.
