Thursday, November 7, 2024

Dam and 1936,2006 Roy B. Inks Bridge over Llano River in Llano, TX

Dam: (Satellite)

This reminds me of Tempe Town where they dammed the river so that the town could have a lake in the town.
Street View, Mar 2023

The function of the dam is as part of the water supply for Llano. One source said that it does flood control, but an always full, fixed-crest dam can't provide flood control.

Lonestar Hippi Hiker posted
On today's episode of picturesque picnics..... a bridge.
Lonestar Hippi Hiker  shared

The 876' (267m) long bridge has 198' (60m) long spans. [HistoricBridges]

C Hanchey Flickr
Roy B. Inks Bridge (Llano, Texas)
Historic 1936 Roy B. Inks Bridge over the Llano River in Llano, Texas. The four-span Parker through truss bridge was built 1936 by the Austin Bridge Company. It was built to replace an 1892 bridge that was washed away in a 1935 flood. The new bridge was funded by the New Deal Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) program, which later became the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 as a contributing resource to the Llano County Courthouse Historic District (NRHP District No. 88002542). The bridge was rehabilitated in 2006.

C Hanchey Flickr

It still has decorative handrails.
Street View, May 2024

"In its 2006 rehabilitation, a new east side walkway was added, which was wider than the original west side walkway, as required for modern pedestrian crossings. The old west walkway was left as is, and the new east side walkway was built to be a replica, including the lattice railing, and use of round-head bolts that look like the rivets of the original." [BridgeHunter]

At least sometimes the downstream part of the river gets wet.
Street View, May 2018

Looking at various dates on Goggle Earth, normally the middle part of the river is rather dry.
Street View, May 2018

This is after a flash flood that saw 10' to 12' of water. [video @ 0:41]
1:42 video @ 1:05

May 23 2025:
The Llano News posted 0:09 video, cropped
Grateful for rain on this beautiful morning!
Video taken at 8:40 am with the Llano River flow at 472 CFS. It topped out at 768 at 5:40 am. The flow reached the bridge around 12:30 am when the volume increased from 50 to 619 in a matter of minutes.

Facebook Reel

Facebook Reel
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July 4, 2025, Flood


A bunch of thunderstorms trained over Central Texas on the morning of July 4, 2025, causing flash floods that killed at least 56 people. The Llano River also got lots of water. This water will dump into the Colorado River and then LBJ Lake.

The timestamp in the upper-left corner indicates that just a half-hour elapsed from the beginning to the cars leaving the scene. Another posting of this video indicated that the speedup was 100x. (Update: I finally determined that this was Slab Road at Kingsland, TX. As of July 9, it is still closed because parts of the road were washed away.)
Meteorologist Noah Bergren posted 0:30 video
Horrible... Timelapse video of the Llano River in Texas from the deadly flash flood... is located about 75 miles northeast of Kerrville where 30+ lives were lost from the Friday floods. WATCH how fast it changes...
📸: Robert Ivey

I think this is at the same bridge.
Leandro Guevara posted 2:24 video

I encountered an "after" photo for Slab Road.
Llano County News Wire posted
Kingsland Slab, Cr 307 
July 8

Facebook Reel

Facebook Reel

At 5:25pm on July 4, 2025, the river was at 16.16 with a flow of 124,145cfs. It hit its peak flow of 126,882 at 7:25pm. [The Llano News]

Wes Virdell for Texas posted 0:14 video
The Llano River is flowing! As a long time kayaker, I love when I see the river up.

It took me a while before I recognized the bridge is the Roy B. Inks Bridge. By the evening, the only evidence of the dam is a slight bump in the river and a small hydraulic jump.
DailyTrib posted 0:08 video
July 4, 2025. Llano River this evening.
📹DT/ Dakota Morrissiey

A very full river.
Storm Chaser Clint Hendricks IV posted
Catastrophic flooding occurring across portions of the Texas Hill Country this July 4th. The Llano River in Llano, TX is currently (as of 5pm) flowing at over 109,000 cubic feet per second, when 5 hours ago it was about 500.

Same video

This is a good example of why fixed weir dams can be so dangerous. Follow one of the sticks in the hydraulic jump close to the dam. You can see that it goes upstream and then is pushed down into the water. This also happens with boats and people that go over the dam.
Same video

I couldn't figure out where this was on the Guadalupe River, and then it occurred to me that this is the Llano River.
City Kyle posted 0:11 video
🚨 Guadalupe River Flooding – URGENT UPDATE ⚠️
🌊 River rose 22–26 ft in 1 hour — nearing 37 ft near Spring Branch.
🏕️ Severe flooding near camps in Kerr County; search efforts ongoing.
🛑 Highway 281 flooded — avoid travel in affected areas.
📍 Water expected at Canyon Lake early July 5.
🌐 Track levels: water.noaa.gov
🔔 Stay safe. Move to higher ground. Never drive through floodwaters.

Llano County News Wire posted six photos with the comment: "Llano Bridge   1700  7/4/25"
John A. Morell: Not quite as crazy as in 2018.
Michael Briggs: Saw it 30 years ago lap the bottom of the bridge.
Teresa Olds Newsom: Michael Briggs me too it resumed for over 30+days straight that was in 1992.
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Hill Country Scanner added the above six photos to July 4th Floods 2025 album 1.


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