People who live or own property or businesses along the Highland Lakes may sign up for a free floodgate notification service from LCRA.
The service calls and/or e-mails residents and property owners about anticipated floodgate operations, which can cause higher, faster water flows along the Colorado River. The Floodgate Operations Notification Service (FONS) allows people to specify how they are notified: by e-mail, land line and/or cell phone. This is NOT a flood warning system.
FONS will e-mail and/or call subscribers with a recorded message to alert them that floodgate operations are expected to begin or have begun. The notifications will be for initial floodgate operations only, not before each gate operation. The automated system will make up to two follow-up attempts if the telephone is busy or does not answer.
Anyone wanting to subscribe to the service must complete an online application at http://www.lcra.org/water/flood/fons.html. The service will expire May 31, 2011, at which time new applications must be submitted. Those in the FONS system before May 31, 2010, will remain in the system until May 31, 2011, unless specifically asking to be removed.
Please note that FONS provides notification of the opening of floodgates, but is not a flood warning system. Residents and property owners should monitor local news media, NOAA All-Hazards Radio broadcasts and other information sources whenever flooding threatens.
About LCRA
LCRA is a nonprofit conservation and reclamation district that provides energy, water and community services to Texans. Created by the Texas Legislature in 1934, LCRA has no taxing authority and operates solely on utility revenues and service fees. LCRA supplies electricity to more than 1.1 million Texans through more than 40 wholesale customers. LCRA also provides many other services to the region. These services include managing floods, protecting the quality of the lower Colorado River and its tributaries, providing parks and recreational facilities, offering economic development assistance, operating water and wastewater utilities, and providing soil, energy and water conservation programs.
