Eagle Mountain Lake is the biggest piece of geography in Azle’s backyard, and it shapes how people in town think about flooding. We answer water damage calls across Azle and northwest Tarrant County, so we hear the questions: Does the lake flood houses? Who decides when water is released? What should I watch during heavy rain? This post sticks to what public agencies say about the lake, and it is clear about what they do not say.
What the lake is
According to the Texas Water Development Board, Eagle Mountain Dam and Lake are located about 5 miles northwest of Fort Worth, on the West Fork Trinity River just north of Lake Worth in northwestern Tarrant County. The lake is owned and operated by the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) for flood control, water supply, irrigation and recreation. Construction of the dam was completed in 1932, and the dam is 85 feet high and 4,800 feet long.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s lake page lists the conservation pool elevation at 649 feet above mean sea level, with a normal water level fluctuation of 2 to 9 feet, and describes the lake as sitting on the West Fork Trinity River, just north of Fort Worth and Lake Worth. TPWD gives the surface area as 8,738 acres and the maximum depth as 47 feet. The Water Development Board’s 2018 survey gives a slightly different surface figure, 9,246 acres at conservation pool, so the exact number depends on the survey and the source.
How much land drains into it
The Water Development Board puts the drainage area of the West Fork Trinity River at Eagle Mountain Dam at 1,970 square miles. TRWD’s Eagle Mountain watershed fact sheet says that watershed extends across portions of Archer, Clay, Montague, Young, Jack, Wise, Parker and Tarrant counties, and that about 1,110 square miles of it are controlled by the dam at Lake Bridgeport in western Wise County.
The same fact sheet describes the watershed as predominantly rural and notes that developed areas such as Azle, Springtown, Decatur and Bridgeport increase the amount of hard surface, runoff and erosion. In plain terms, rain that falls on driveways, roofs and streets reaches creeks faster than rain that soaks into open ground.
How the lake is managed in heavy rain
TRWD explains on its lake levels page that Lake Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth were all created by dams on the West Fork of the Trinity River. Releases from Eagle Mountain flow downstream into Lake Worth, and water leaving Lake Worth flows into the West Fork of the Trinity River, which passes just north of downtown Fort Worth before continuing east to Dallas. That puts Lake Worth directly downstream of Eagle Mountain Lake.
TRWD operates the reservoirs as a system. According to the district, in cases of heavy rainfall it can use Lake Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain Lake to temporarily hold back water to reduce flooding downstream. Its flood protection page defines conservation level as the permitted level of water a lake can hold, and says any amount above that level is used for the temporary storage of flood waters and must be released downstream. Its FAQ page adds that Eagle Mountain has spillway gates that allow controlled releases before lake levels reach conservation pool.
TRWD’s lake levels page also reports that about 2 percent of Eagle Mountain’s outflows go to local water users such as Springtown and Azle, which divert water from the lake.
What this means for Azle homes
Here is where we are careful. The sources above describe how the lake and dam are built, owned and managed. They do not say which Azle streets or homes are at risk of flooding, and we are not going to guess. Flood risk depends on the specific property: its elevation, its distance from creeks, how the lot drains and how the house is built. Ready.gov points residents to FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center to learn the flood risks in an area, and it adds that flooding does not follow the lines on a map.
What we can say from the calls we take is that water damage in a lake community tends to come from three places:
- Runoff from heavy rain. Water running across yards and driveways can reach doors, garages and low slab edges.
- Saturated ground. After long rain, soil holds less, and water can show up in low rooms and lower levels.
- Ordinary leaks. Supply lines, water heaters and appliances fail near lakes the same way they do anywhere.
Steps worth taking before the next big storm
Ready.gov’s flood guidance lists several steps that apply to Azle homes, including signing up for your community’s warning system, keeping drains and gutters clear, moving valuables to higher levels and considering a sump pump with a battery. It also notes that homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover flooding and that a flood policy typically takes up to 30 days to take effect, so the time to ask about coverage is well before a storm.
If water gets into your home
Stay out of floodwater. Ready.gov warns it can be contaminated and contain dangerous debris. Keep the power off in wet areas and call us. Our crew handles flood cleanup in Azle, including pumping out the water and removing soaked material that cannot be dried. After that, our structural drying in Azle work takes moisture out of framing, subfloors and drywall so it does not linger in the structure. To reach us any time, visit Contact Water Damage Azle or call.
Sources
- Texas Water Development Board, Eagle Mountain Dam and Lake
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Eagle Mountain Lake
- Tarrant Regional Water District, Lake Levels: West Fork
- Tarrant Regional Water District, Flood Protection
- Tarrant Regional Water District, FAQs
- Tarrant Regional Water District, Eagle Mountain Watershed fact sheet (PDF)
- Ready.gov, Floods