The chocolate brown Brazos River rises, slowly and inexorably

Posted 9:45 p.m. Wednesday

Brad Dzierzanowski pulled the navy blue work truck to the shoulder of the bridge. He walked to the edge and slung a lengthy tape measure over it, weighted down by railroad ties.

Dzierzanowski craned his neck over the edge. The Brazos River waters rushed by below, the color of milk chocolate. He waited for the wind to stop and looked through his dark sunglasses for where the ties just began to cause a ripple in the current.

He adjusted the tape measure, bit by bit, until the ties just skimmed the surface. He looked again at the tape, which had been placed between on the bridge’s concrete siding between two painted highlighter-orange stripes, as neon as the yellow vest he wore.

The sun beat down overhead. He noted the number where the tape and an “X” carved between the painted stripes aligned. 21.35 feet.

This was how Fort Bend County measured the height of the steadily rising Brazos River. “Stone Age stuff,” Dzierzanowski said, “but it works.”

It was the fifth round of measurements Wednesday for Dzierzanowski and a co-worker, who along with another team measured the river’s height at various bridges about every two hours.

Dzierzanowski and his partner had taken their first measurement of the day at 7:35 a.m. Now it was 3:50 p.m.

Slowly but surely, the Brazos River was rising. Each measurement Wednesday grew shorter, by small fractions of a foot each time.

Dzierzanowski texted the measurement to an engineer at the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management, who ran calculations and sent information to the National Weather Service.

What they found on the ground would factor into continued updates issued by the Weather Service, which had predicted the river to rise in the coming days to record heights.

Dzierzanowski got back in his car to continue his rounds. The river still had nearly 2 feet up to go.