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Comal River water level rises, then drops after June 12 floods

Video below shows the New Braunfels tube chute before and after the June 12 flooding

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Brown water roared over the New Braunfels tube chute in a cell phone video shot on June 12.

The Comal River, swollen with overnight rains, flooded over its banks and the popular tubing destination. Amid the churning water, only the metal and wire fences were still visible.

The City of New Braunfels closed the river from June 12 through the morning of June 14, and the water has long since subsided.

On Friday, tubers shrieked as they plunged down the concrete channel, which is again fully in view.

While would-be-tubers hoping for historic flows this weekend may be out of luck, they may not be totally disappointed.

United States Geological Survey data from a section of the Comal below the tube chute show that the water rose rapidly and deepened on the morning of June 12. At its peak, at 9:30 a.m. on June 12, the water was 13.6 feet deep and moving at 6,690 cubic feet per second.

However, within two days, it had largely returned to near its previous levels — just slightly faster and a few inches deeper.

USGS depth and discharge data for the Comal River at New Braunfels (USGS)

The same data show Friday’s depth at 3.65 feet and a discharge of 136 cubic feet per second, both still below historic averages of 4.25 feet deep and 298 cubic feet per second.

About 400 yards upstream from the tube chute, Texas Tubes Owner Colie Reno uses a different unit of measurement: the stairs into the river channel. He said the levels are showing improvement.

On Friday, three stairs were visible above the waterline. Before the floods, Reno said, he could see all five.

“You can tell it was a pretty good flood, though, because it bent that one pole over,” he said.

Reno confirmed the river is running slowly, though. A float that used to take an hour and 45 minutes to two hours now takes two and a half to three hours, depending on how busy it is.

Friday was a typically busy June day, with packs of tubers filling the river.

Their expectations for the river conditions were mixed. Some expected a faster ride or wondered if they would still be able to tube.

However, Marissa Roman, a former Texas State University student, said she wasn’t surprised the water was back down.

“We’ve had flooding over there before, so, you know, gone within a couple days,” Roman said.

Sitting in sunshine and cool water, she had only one word to describe her float: Wonderful.


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