Low Shasta Lake

[Joe Wicked]

Luckily for us, we weren't that bad I don't think. Our lakes are not as deep, but there are a lot of small ones around. I live right on Lake Lavon and there is an old bridge that used to cross one of the streams that were there before the dam. Once the dam was put in, the streams completely disappeared and the bridge was submerged. It was normally about 15' below the surface. Last fall a boat struck the bridge and sunk. This spring the bridge was exposed for the first time since it was flooded. Then the rains came. At first it was a blessing, but after so much and the lakes all filled up, and began to flood. The rivers could not carry enough water away fast enough to prevent the flooding. Lakes had to be closed around the 4th of July due to flooding of campgrounds, access roads, etc... the dam at Lavon had to be shut and allow it to flood over because the lake it feeds, was so high that they were going to have to shut down I30 (one of the 2 primary East-West arteries into Dallas) because the water was only 5-10' below the bridge and rising. lots of farmers crops were lost to flooding.