Drought leads to massive fish rescue

BLANCO COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Flash flood warnings and safe swimming signs line the river banks at Blanco State Park.

This year’s lack of flow though mean those messages and Gary Mercado’s usual watchful duties as park ranger are not as crucial as his latest unusual task.

“They’re like 9 pounds," said Mercado. "We had 15-pound carp come out."

When water stopped streaming over the top of the Blanco River dam, about 3,000 fish became trapped, slowly running out of oxygen. The crisis forced Mercado and his team to drain what little was left on the upstream side of the dam and remove the remaining fish by net.

“That created a dry river bed on our west end of the park, ” he said.

Park visitors are slowly dwindling now. Like the rescued fish, Tuesday’s few swimmers took advantage of the water downstream.

“I’m a river rat,” said Ebony Esquivel. “I like to swim in rivers, but it’s too nasty and dry.”

The water was about 6 feet below where it should be at the end of July. However, the low levels created an opportunity for some much needed maintenance in the park.

Mercado said it has been 30 years since the river was completely dry in this area.

“[We] cleaned up all the debris in the bottom of the river,” said Mercado. “Tires, old broken up concrete with rebar sticking out. We made it all safe.”

Safe for the near 3,000 weekly visitors this park should have. The summer of 2007 was the last time visitors swam near the now bone dry dam.

“[The water] was going over,” he recalled. “[It] wasn’t too long ago we had flow.”

Someday soon he said he hopes the rain helps the river recover, giving those “Swim At Your Own Risk” signs a purpose again and making his job a little more normal.

Walk across the Blanco River Dam with Josh below, as he gives you a closer look captured with his iPhone.