BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — The Lower Colorado River Authority partially opened a floodgate on Lake Bastrop Dam at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

LCRA says it’s necessary to “maintain Lake Bastrop within its normal operating range.” The partially opened floodgate will let about 700-800 cubic feet per second flow out, and the water released will flow down Spicer Creek and Piney Creek and into the Colorado River.

Data from LCRA shows the dam was slightly above its upper range on May 28 and May 29, but then dipped down below its 450 feet upper limit above the dam after a floodgate was opened. LCRA said with rain in the forecast all week, runoff and flooding are both possible.

LCRA says it will be “closely monitoring” the lake levels in the case of heavy rain potentially contributing to a rise that would necessitate more floodgates to open.

The dam is located near the Sim Gideon power plant — entrances to it — and the Spicer and Piney creeks, are blocked off to the public for safety purposes. 

A regular out at the lake says he’s noticed the difference in lake levels.

“It’s gotten to the point where, it’s about enough,” Joseph Quitta-Carney said. “The lake levels here were probably a foot, foot and half from what it is normally. There at the [my] house, I’ve had five inches on the rain gauge, and was probably 10-12 over the past few weeks.”

LCRA said it closed the floodgate just after five, on Tuesday evening.