MATAGORDA – A newly installed Colorado River gauge will improve communications and forecasting during floods and storms, said officials who attended a dedication on Monday.

The new gauge will allow forecasters to better pinpoint how high and when the river would reach flood stage, providing local residents more time to evacuate or take other precautions during flood events.

“It was very much needed,” said Matagorda County Precinct 2 Commissioner George Deshotels. “In the past few years, we’ve had a build-up of residents along the river in that area and it became apparent to us in the flood of 2003 that we needed a better forecast capability.”

Previously, area residents relied on a gauge on the river at Bay City, which is about 26 river miles up river from new gauge.

The gauge represents a partnership between local residents, elected officials, the National Weather Services’ River Forecasting Center and the Lower Colorado River Authority.

LCRA installed the nearly $40,000 gauge, and its staff will operate and maintain the equipment, which includes a computer and communications gear to remotely transmit information to a central computer in Austin. National Weather Service river forecasters will use the data to make predictions about how high, when and where the water will rise during flood events. The public can monitor the information on the Internet at http://hydromet.lcra.org.

The equipment also includes an outdoor digital display so passersby can check the river level at a glance. The gauge is located on City of Matagorda property, near the intersection of Mimosa Lane and Cypress Avenue, and close to the entrance to the River Run subdivision.

“This is a great example of how local, regional and federal entities can partner together to leverage their expertise and resources to enhance the flood warning capability for the community of Matagorda,” said Mark Jordan, LCRA manager of River Management Services.

The effort started about three years ago when the Matagorda Area Chamber of Commerce organized a committee to investigate how to improve flood forecasting in the area, said Jerry Wright, a vice president of the chamber and a member of its Lower Colorado River Advisory Group.

Wright, who manages a Stanley’s Food Market at 752 Market Street, about one-quarter mile away from the gauge, said his patrons have frequently mentioned the new gauge since it began operating in the past month.

“Everybody loves it; they think it will help out,” Wright said. “It won’t stop the flooding but it will give us warning instead of waking up in the morning and have a garage full of water. At least now you’ll know it’s coming.”

The gauge is the newest of more than 250 gauges in the lower Colorado River basin as part of LCRA’s Hydromet system (short for Hydrometerological Data Acquisition System). The expanding gauge network is designed to improve the organization’s ability to respond when a flood strikes in the lower Colorado River basin -- one of the most flood-prone regions of the United States.

Most of the weather and stream flow gauges are located in the upper parts of the region, along the Highland Lakes and its tributaries, and in the Hill Country, where the basin is widest and flash floods are most common. But the narrow stretches of the lower basin also are subject to floods, including the river in Matagorda, local officials said.

Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald said, “This is very important for the folks in Matagorda. That’s a growing community and this is going to help them grow in the right way.”