India, July 18 -- As severe rains and thunderstorms continue in central Texas on Friday, Lake Travis in Travis County remains at severe risk of flooding. The risks are now compounded by the LCRA opening floodgates at Mansfield and Tom Miller dams on Friday.

The rainfall on the watershed of the Colorado River and the Pedernales River increased the water levels rapidly through Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday, July 16, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) warned that it would open the floodgates at Wirtz and Starcke dams. At the time, the water level at Lake Travis was around 85% full.

On Friday, a local area alert was issued to the residents of Travis County as the LCRA announced that they planned to open two floodgates at the Ma...