Clean up from flood waters continues around Lake Conroe, including an effort to find the owners of about 10 boats and jet skis found floating unattended.
Mike Montgomery, owner of Montgomery Marine Towing and Salvage, said more than 50 boats and jet skis have been returned to owners. He said he hasn’t seen that many unattended vessels floating on the lake since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Heavy rains pushed through the region Jan. 23, forcing the San Jacinto River Authority to close access to Lake Conroe. The Conroe area received more than 8 inches of rain, bringing the lake to slightly above 204 feet, which is 3 feet above its normal pool of 201 feet, matching lake levels of the Tax Day Flood in April 2016.
The San Jacinto River near Conroe at Interstate 45 crested at 118.4 feet Jan. 25. Major flood stage is 117.8 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The high water washed away the “Bonnie and Clyde” bridge. The truss bridge ran parallel to the current concrete bridge over the San Jacinto River on FM 2854 and has been in place since the early 1900s.
Montgomery said the water came up quickly, which didn’t give residents time to secure boats and jet skis from docks. He said many of the water craft belonged to people who were on vacation or used the home as a vacation home and weren’t there full-time.
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Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough has signed a disaster declaration for the county.
Montgomery is working with the Precinct 1 Constable’s Office to find the owners of about 10 boats and jet skis he has docked at Palms Marina in Willis.
“We have a lot of slips there,” Montgomery said. “We were able to set up a base there to bring all the boats and set up a boat grid.”
With the boat grid, Montgomery has all the state serial numbers found on the certificate of number card or the title for each craft. It consists of a combination of 12 numbers and letters.
“We have just about contacted every single person,” Montgomery said. “But, there are still about four or five boats and a couple jet skis that are missing. We don’t know where they are.”
Social media has been a helpful as residents have posted photos of found and missing boats and jet skis. Montgomery said some residents have contacted him to report a vessel they found around the docks at their homes.
“It’s been an all-around community effort to help track down these things,” Montgomery said.
Lake Conroe reopened Sunday, and the river authority has reduced the amount of water released to just 530 cubic feet per second, down from 19,435 cubic feet per second Jan. 24.