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Lake Travis businesses welcome rainfall
Central Texas saw some much-needed rainfall the past several days, with more rain moving through tonight. It's a welcome sight for businesses along Lake Travis, after the months-long drought led to a drop in lake levels, and a drop in customers.
BRIARCLIFF, Texas - Rainfall on Sunday afternoon served as a sign of relief for employees at lake businesses, including The Lighthouse Restaurant and Lounge in Briarcliff near Lake Travis.
"I hope it pours," said restaurant manager Drew Gieschen. "I'm excited, we need like 40 more feet of rain to open that ramp back up, but hopefully it is a wet winter, I really hope it is, cause it will help."
Lake levels remain at 38 percent full, a small relief from the 32 percent the lake was at one week ago, as more rain has filled the forecast over the past seven days.
"It just kept dropping and dropping like last summer I remember thinking, oh my gosh it's low, but we still had boat traffic we still had docks open down here, people could at least pull up for their boats," said Gieschen.
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Employees say traffic has slowed down with the closure of boat ramps and docks outside the restaurant. "It's so low, like if you go onto the edge of the boat ramp there is like a 20-foot drop," she said.
The manager says the lake levels are a reflection of the sales and often times forced the restaurant to make changes.
"Make cuts where necessary, have a little less people on staff, just be more cautious of what we are spending," said Gieschen.
She says more rain brings more revenue and hope.
"It's really exciting, I think everybody is super excited to get the ground wet again, get everything a little green again, it's just been so dry," said Gieschen.