State park not slated to reopen until June 9

By Bobby Horn Jr.
news@casscountynow.com

Anyone making plans to spend to spend Memorial Day at Atlanta State Park will have to make other plans.
Due to heavy flooding and safety concerns, Atlanta State Park has announced that they are closing temporarily.
The park closed on May 3 at 2 p.m. Originally park officials had hoped to reopen on May 12, however they say now that the park will be closed until at least June 9.
For more information and updates on the closure, contact the park website at tpwd.texas.gov/state/state-parks/atlanta.
On May 9 the Wright Patman Lake set a new record elevation at 254.5’. This was 29.74 over the normal elevation for this time of year.
By May 18 it had fallen to 253.9’. Current release at the Wright Patman Dam is 9,736 cubit feet per second (CFS). In January, the release was 9,400 CFS into the Sulphur River.
Elevation records have been kept since 1986.
In 2016, the lowest level the lake reached was 247.19 feet on March 9. In 2015 the river never got above 249.79 feet (on Dec. 31).