North Texas

Flooded North Texas Lakes Closed for Memorial Day Weekend

Lakes and waterways across North Texas are bursting at the banks after days of heavy rain. Parks, boat ramps and entire lakes will be closed over the busy Memorial Day weekend.

Lake Arlington, Benbrook Lake and Lake Worth, and the marina at Eagle Mountain Lake, are open.

Joe Pool Lake and its parks are around 60 percent open, but boat ramps remain closed.

Lake Lewisville boat ramps in Little Elm and Arrowhead Park are open. City officials said the lake is open for the weekend, but people should be aware there may be some debris in the water.

Grapevine Lake is open with the exception of Murrell Park. People with boats already at the Twin Coves Marina will be allowed into the park.

With the ramps closed, only the boats already docked at the marina will be allowed on the lake during Memorial Day weekend.

The beaches are open, but there will be a daily cap of no more than 1,200 vehicles.

"We're going to cap out entries at that, so that the public that do come in will have an enjoyable safe place to be," Grand Prairie Parks and Recreation Director Duane Strawn said. "When we reach that cap and that could be early morning or whenever – when we reach that cap we are closed for the day and then we will reset the next day."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have opened some of the nearby drainage gates.

"They did open the gates. It's not a lot, it's a little. So, this morning we are walking around, we are seeing the levels drop and it will continue to drop," Strawn said. "The nice thing is we are in dry period – looks like for a while. We are not getting any rain to add to it."

Lakes across North Texas are swollen from weeks of rain. Two North Texas lakes are closed and ramps and parks at others are closed and that's impacting Memorial Day holiday plans for some.

Outside Scott’s Landing Marina, a temporary dock has been extended to cover the flooded parking lot beneath it.

It's a path that also leads to Big Daddy's Ship Store, where on the cooking dock, co-owner Matt Armand is stirring a delicious-looking pot of sauce. "This is a coconut curry sauce for our mussels," Armand said.

He's preparing it for the Memorial Day weekend festivities at the marina.

"It's usually chaos, like busy chaos," Armand said.

But this year, that busy chaos is in question.

"We are going to have a little bit of a loss this week compared to normal, but I bet we're still gonna be pretty busy," Armand said. "People still want to be out here."

But campers and people hoping to picnic along the Grapevine side of the lake are going to have setbacks.

The City of Grapevine closed all of its lake-side parks and boat ramps.

Parks like Oak Grove have large barriers blocking the entrance, making it clear the city does not want people to enter.

Over at Katie‘s Woods Park, day-use shelters that normally help block the sun are now nearly covered with water.

"There's still road access here. We're still open," Armand said. "You can still come by, you can still get a great burger and awesome views and enjoy the holiday."

ONLINE: Here's a listing of Army Corps of Engineers facilities that are open or closed.

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