INSIDE: MORE WEATHER TIPS FOR YOUR HOLIDAY PLANNING,
ON THE WATER
Heavy rain in the past seven days helped raise the levels at Lake Travis 3 feet at Mansfield Dam, which reopened its boat ramp this week.
This will be first holiday weekend since 2012 that Central Texas anglers will be allowed to use the public boat ramps at Mansfield Dam and Tournament Point in Pace Bend Park.
For months, boaters were paying to use private ramps, keeping their boats in marinas or not launching on the lake at all.
Levels at Lake Travis were hovering Thursday about 634.9 feet above mean sea level, according to the LCRA.
On Lake Austin, dozens of kayaks, canoes and paddle boards are welcome, but the Austin police Lake Patrol Unit will be making sure no motorized watercraft such as personal watercraft or motorboats hit the water from Friday until sunrise Tuesday.
ATTHERACES
More than 2,000 athletes are planning to compete in the Life Time Tri CapTex in downtown Austin on Monday morning, but organizers are worried about inclement weather. Flooding and water runoff could adversely affect Lady Bird Lake, where the triathlon competitors will be swimming.
“Our team takes the health and safety of our triathletes very seriously, and we have a team that is monitoring the weather and water closely,” said Veronica Castelo, the local public relations manager for the Life Time Tri CapTex.
Organizers also will be on the lookout for pos- sible lightning in the skies above Auditorium Shores.
“We do have contingency plans in place but do not plan to release them until it is absolutely necessary. For now we are planning on holding the full triathlon,” Castelo said.
ON THE ROAD
If the threat of heavy rain this weekend isn’t enough to slow down holiday motorists, 22 local law enforcement agencies will team up to catch drunken drivers and traffic violators on Central Texas roads.
“Last year, 644 people decided to put all of us at risk, and as a result of the hard work of these men and women ... we were able to get them before they hurt or killed somebody,” Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
During the long weekend last year, Austin police responded to 154 crashes, including one fatal wreck, and arrested 111 people for drunken driving in Austin.
Throughout the state, the Department of Public Safety will also increase its trooper patrols looking drunken drivers, speeders and seat belt violators.
INMEMORIAM
The annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Texas State Cemetery on East Seventh Street will be held at 10 a.m. Monday. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Paul Funk will speak.