Playa lake in southwest Amarillo
AMARILLO, TEXAS -- You may have noticed the playa lakes filling up around the city so have city officials and they're keeping a close eye on them.
Our recent record rainfalls have added to all the water resevoirs, which has city engineers on alert to make sure there's no flooding.
Overall, there are about 60 playa lakes within the city limits and only 5 of those have pumps on them to alleviate any overflow.
City Engineer, Martin Rodin says the city is constantly monitoring the levels of those lakes.
"We look at all the lakes periodically to see if there's an issue, most of the lakes are just evaporative or filtration...most of it sinks into the ground or evaporates into the air."
While it is a growing problem, no alarms are going off yet, and those who live in close proximity to the playas say there's no real need for concern.
When Dawn Hallgren decided to build her pet resort, Le Chateau near the southwest corner of the city's loop, she met with the city to discuss the playa lake in hopes of staying out of a flood zone.
"Actually we built the property up four feet and then we applied for a letter of map amendment so our structure is actually out of the flood zone...and so we don't have any concerns for our building."
Hallgren says she likes the lake and the fact that its risen in the last month. She considers it a plus, despite some abandoned vehicle collateral damage."Somebody had a pickup out there and it got flooded and we have a barn out there too. I would just say obviously, most neighbors were well prepared because they built their buildings and homes further up where it's not in the flood zone...when it started drying up I was actually disappointed to see my lake disappearing so were happy to see it here."
During the heavy rainstorm last week, Rodin was called out in the early morning hours to make sure there were no problems with our playa lakes.
