Waterways throughout the region are swollen from recent rains, including the Sabine River at Gladewater – it surged from about 9.5 feet Friday afternoon to almost 25 feet less than 24 hours later.
After days of severe and wet weather throughout a wide area, the river crossed its ‘Minor Flooding’ stage early Sunday morning.
As of noon Monday, it had an observed level of 28.37 feet with more runoff expected to push it to 30.1 feet by midnight April 12.
The river’s ‘Moderate Flooding’ level is 33 feet before crossing the ‘Major’ threshold at 36 feet.
The U.S. National Weather Service’s Shreveport office issued an advisories early April 7 for waterways throughout Northeast Texas.
“While the rain has come to an end, several of our area waterways are in flood from past rainfall over the last four days,” the agency announced.
In Gladewater, the Lake Gladewater Park and boat ramps were closed Saturday morning “due to the dangerous rising water conditions,” with city personnel reminding drivers not to cross barricades or bring their vehicles into the park. The restriction was lifted Sunday morning. Shell Camp Road was also completely shut down until further notice.
“Due to the road possibly being washed out, do not drive around the barricades,” City of Gladewater announced Saturday. “Turn around and don’t drown.”
– By James Draper