Kerr County, Kerrville officials face daunting challenges in recovery in county’s lakes

Local officials are grappling with the unprecedented challenge of potentially draining three county lakes to recover victims and vehicles buried beneath tons of debris from the catastrophic July 4 floods that have killed at least 106 people in Kerr County, with more than 150 people still missing.

Discussions at Monday’s Kerr County Commissioners Court meeting and ongoing conversations with city officials have focused on Ingram Lake, Nimitz Lake — Kerrville’s primary drinking water reservoir — and the Flat Rock Park dam area, all believed to contain significant debris, including cars, trucks and RVs with the remains of flood victims.

Judge Rob Kelly confirmed that “there is a plan in place right now to accomplish draining the lake” at Ingram Lake. However, he acknowledged the effort would be “an enormous undertaking because of the endangered species issues that we have,” specifically referencing the endangered Guadalupe Fatmucket and Guadalupe Orb mussels.

Commissioner Jeff Holt added that officials have “plans to drain both Limia and Ingram Lake primarily for recovery of what might be submerged.”

Nimitz Lake Presents Complex Challenge

The most complicated situation involves Nimitz Lake, which serves as Kerrville’s main drinking water impoundment reservoir. City Manager Dalton Rice said “everything is on the table” for determining the extent of damage and necessary solutions at the critical water source.

Rice outlined several strategies being considered for Nimitz Lake, including “damming sections off and dewatering” to access the lake bottom. A major concern is the “quantity of debris, including cars and other objects, that are buried” at the lake’s bottom, which while potentially acting as a “natural filter,” presents significant operational challenges.

The flood’s violence moved massive amounts of debris and sediment downstream, resulting in vehicles being completely buried beneath the lake bed. Search efforts in the lake are described as “very complex” and “very technical,” requiring advanced technologies including sonar and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to penetrate the ground and identify submerged items and potential victims.

Water Treatment Operations Damaged

The disaster has significantly impacted Kerrville’s water treatment capabilities. The city operates two water treatment plants — one utilizing a membrane system and another that does not. The extractor in one plant is currently clogged and damaged due to extensive debris around the dam section of the lake, with repairs estimated to take about four weeks.

Despite the damage, the city’s water system demonstrated remarkable resilience during the disaster. An Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) system with a billion gallons of stored water ensures the city is “good for a year,” allowing officials to avoid issuing a boil water notice to residents.

Ingram Lake Debris Creates Safety Hazards

At Monday’s commissioners meeting, Ann Carr, an Ingram resident, detailed the dangerous debris submerged in Ingram Lake following the flood. She described witnessing the lake rise dramatically starting around 3 a.m., watching “all kinds of things float by us — propane tanks, kitchen appliances, you name it.”

Carr’s family lost a zero-turn mower, a three-quarter-ton green truck, building materials, fencing, cattle panels and two docks with sharp nails. The presence of sharp nails from submerged docks particularly concerns Carr, who has “taught numerous kids to ski on that lake” where depths range from 13 to 15 feet.

“We are here to say thank you, but also we are concerned about the lake and if there’s a way that we can find the resources to drain that lake,” Carr told commissioners. “It hasn’t been drained in probably 20 years.”

Recovery Efforts Span Multiple Locations

Kelly said the primary reason for considering lake draining is “for recovery — to see what’s under there.” He cited search crews finding “a trailer that’s completely covered up with gravel and dirt in the river 27 feet below the surface of the water.”

Search and rescue operations continue despite weather interruptions, with more than 2,200 state and federal personnel deployed to the Hill Country Event Center. Crews have extended their search efforts “all the way to Canyon Lake” as they look for missing victims and submerged debris.

The scope of the disaster has created what officials describe as an “unknown number of lives lost from tourists” who came for Fourth of July weekend activities. Numerous eyewitness accounts describe vehicles and RVs floating down the Guadalupe River during the flood, with some riverside businesses capturing video footage of cars with headlights still on being swept downstream in the raging waters.

Environmental and Technical Challenges

The potential draining of Ingram Lake faces significant environmental hurdles due to the presence of endangered mussel species. Commissioners expressed uncertainty about whether the mussels survived the flood, with one speculating “hopefully they went down,” while another responded, “I wouldn’t assume that. I think a lot of them are going to be stacked up right against that dam.”