Culverts and Weirs Clear Little Walnut Creek Ahead of Heavy Rains

Puddles are lingering in the driveway this morning, but the neighborhood drainage ditches are finally getting a breather.

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The Lead

Austin's Watershed Protection Department marked substantial completion this week on the $28.8 million Little Walnut Creek Flood Risk Reduction project, bringing tangible relief to a north Austin pocket long vulnerable to torrential downpours. Spanning the corridor between Metric Boulevard and Rutland Drive near Cook Elementary School, the years-long effort faced a contractor pause in 2022 before resuming under new management.

Crews finished building massive creekside weirs along Quail Valley Boulevard and Mountain Quail Road. The intake structures are designed to intercept surging storm runoff and funnel it into a 10-by-13-foot concrete box culvert buried beneath Mearns Meadow Boulevard, which carries excess volume directly into the expanded detention pond at Quail Creek Neighborhood Park. While city hydrologists caution that some properties remain in the broader 100-year floodplain, the new subsurface bypass drastically limits routine street pooling and structural inundation. Community members can walk the completed weir site during an upcoming public ribbon cutting along Quail Valley.

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Local Pulse

• City Offices Shuttered For Veterans Observance City Hall Administrative facilities, neighborhood centers, and municipal libraries remain closed today, while curbside trash routes run on normal schedule.

• Prescribed Grassland Burn Set Near Driftwood Parks Austin Water crews ignite 108 acres on Thursday across southern recharge lands, sending visible smoke between Kyle and Dripping Springs.

• Deep Eddy Slates Three-Week December Maintenance Parks The historic freshwater spring pool closes November 30 through December 21 to replace aging fill and drain valves.

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Today's Outlook

• High 76°F · Low 61°F — Drizzle Keep a light rain shell handy for intermittent mist on the road today.

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What's On Around Town

Today

• Chrissy Chlapecka 29th Street Ballroom (2906 Fruth St), 7:00 PM · $25 Buzzy, high-energy pop taking over the intimate campus-area venue tonight.

• Hotel Vegas Movie Club Hotel Vegas (1502 E 6th St), 7:00 PM Catch a cult classic screening with patio seating and cocktail specials.

• Open Mic Comedy Cap City Comedy Club (11506 Century Oaks Ter), 7:30 PM Local comics test out fresh material on the North Austin stage.

Tomorrow

• Alton Brown Live ACL Live at The Moody Theater (310 W Willie Nelson Blvd), 7:30 PM · Paid

• Bebe Stockwell 3TEN ACL Live (310 W Willie Nelson Blvd), 8:00 PM · Paid

Friday

• Earlybirds Club Live 3TEN ACL Live (310 W Willie Nelson Blvd), 8:00 PM · Paid

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Spotlight & Story

• 900 Red River Street
  • Before neon flooded the limestone cliff behind Cheer Up Charlies, the address served as a used car lot with a lone clapboard sales shack. In 1982, it transformed into Chances, Sandra Dee Martinez’s legendary community haven where punk rock and lesbian politics collided nightly.

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Austin Daily Digest — compiled from local sources every morning. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.

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