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This has never happened before, but the Lower Colorado River Authority will likely open eight flood gates on the Mansfield Dam over Lake Austin by Thursday at noon.
So what can you expect if you live in Austin?
Floods in some streets
When eight doors are open, 50,000 cubic feet of water per second will flow from the dam.
This will cause flooding in some streets, says Karl McArthur, of Austin's Watershed Protection Department.
RELATED | Lake Travis has absorbed more water in a week than Austin has used in four years
"We should absolutely close Cesar Chavez around Lamar Crossing," he said. "At the Longhorn Dam, we would have a run-off on the emergency spillway. The emergency spillway is Pleasant Valley Road; we must close the road to Pleasant Valley. "
(You can find a list of ATXfloods road closures.)
Floods in some parks
McArthur said severe flooding would occur in parks along the lake.
With eight open flood doors, he says, you can expect to see something like this picture of Stevie Ray Vaughan's statue at Auditorium Shores with water at the waist. That's why the bike path and hiking trail is closed.
Minimal structural damage, probably
McArthur does not expect the opening of all the doors to be caused by the flooding of many structures along the river in Austin. Of course, this could change if weather forecasts do it.
Correction: An earlier version of this post said that the dam had eight gates in total. He has 24. Eight would be the most open simultaneously.
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