The 1935 Flood That Put Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge Underwater

On June 15, 1935, the Colorado River climbed to 50 feet in Austin and kept on going into downtown.

The Congress Avenue Bridge and much of downtown ended up underwater, according to the Travis County Archives.

Thirteen people died, and between 2,500 and 3,000 Austin residents lost their homes.

It is still one of the two biggest floods ever measured on the river in Austin.

A River With a Long Record of Rage

Long before 1935, Austin had learned what the Colorado could do.

In 1893 the city finished the Austin Dam to tame the river and make electricity, Austin Energy says. On April 7, 1900, it broke.

The floodwaters destroyed the powerhouse and knocked out electricity and water service for months, according to Austin Energy.

A private group repaired the dam in 1915, but another flood damaged it again that same year, and the investors walked away.

June 1935

Then came the storm of June 1935.

The Travis County Archives says the area was hit with 22 inches of rain in about three hours.

With no real flood control system on the Colorado, the water had nowhere to go but up and out.

Fifty Feet of Water

The National Weather Service's official list of historic crests for the Colorado River at Austin puts the June 15, 1935 flood at 50 feet.

The same list estimates the flow at 481,000 cubic feet per second.

Only one flood on that list is higher, a 51-foot crest in July 1869.

Photos from the Travis County Archives show the damage along South Congress Avenue the day after, with people gathered to look at the wreckage.

A City Without Water or Power

The flood knocked out the city's water and power service, Austin Energy says.

Utilities director Walter E. Seaholm patched Austin into a private power company's system for electricity and set up an emergency drinking water pump.

The Agency That Opened Just in Time

Austin did have one new tool on its side. The Lower Colorado River Authority had formally opened for business on February 19, 1935, just four months before the flood, according to the Handbook of Texas.

The legislature created it in 1934 to deal with a region hit by devastating floods, droughts and a lack of reliable electricity, the LCRA says.

In 1940, the LCRA built Tom Miller Dam on top of the remains of the two earlier Austin dams, and the lake behind it was renamed Lake Austin, Austin Energy says.

Between 1938 and 1951 the LCRA built a chain of six dams and lakes, the Highland Lakes, which Austin Energy credits with controlling the worst of the floods that had plagued Austin.

How to See It Today

Stand on the Congress Avenue Bridge and look down at Lady Bird Lake, the stretch of the Colorado that runs through downtown.

In June 1935, that water was over the bridge.

The dams upstream changed everything, but Austin still sits in what the city calls Flash Flood Alley.

Did anyone in your family live through the 1935 flood? Tell us their story in the comments.