Last Day of Austin Music Fest Canceled Due to Rain

Heavy rain showers and thunderstorms with some flash flooding have canceled the final day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Organizers posted on the festival’s website Sunday, Oct. 13, that a third of the ticket price will be refunded based on the original price paid.

Festival promoter spokeswoman Shelby Meade said in the post that the safety of fans, staff and artists “always comes first.”

More than 40 acts were to perform Sunday, including headliners Lionel Richie and Atoms for Peace, the side project of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich.

This was the second of the two-weekend festival.

National Weather Service meteorologist Pat McDonald said the Barton Springs subdivision received 12.1 inches of rain and downtown Austin received 10.6 inches.

McDonald said there were numerous water rescues in the area. A mobile home park in the Onion Creek subdivision south of Austin was flooded when water levels rose to more than 28 feet, McDonald said. Numerous roads were closed in the Austin area as well as in nearby Hays County.

The downpours in Austin won’t help alleviate the dry conditions in some parts of Central Texas, as the heaviest rains fell downstream from Lakes Travis and Buchanan, which are at near-record low levels.

However, rain that fell in the lakes’ watershed has added a combined 2.6 billion gallons of water, said Clara Tuma, spokeswoman for the Lower Colorado River Authority.

“These are not drought-buster” rains for the lakes that serve a million people in the region, Tuma said, and the effect of rainfall on the lakes’ combined levels will take time to show up.

“We expect that (accumulation) to continue to rise as rain in tributaries, such as the Pedernales, makes its way into the lakes,” she said. “That can take several days.”