AUSTIN — It's been several long weeks of waiting, but the waterway ban in the Austin area officially expired at noon on Friday.
The ban was initiated several weeks ago after historic flooding in the Llano River. The large amount of water and debris created dangerous conditions on waterways in the Austin area.
It also caused businesses to shut down for a few weeks -- and October is the end of the busy season, as the temperatures begin to drop. Although businesses understand why the ban was needed, that didn't change the fact that they missed sales.
"It was definitely hurtful," Bob Ojeda said.
Ojeda has been driving boats for Austin Duck Adventures for about a decade.
Down the river, another business said the ban caused them to miss out on the end of the busy season.
“We did miss out on a couple of warm weekends, but that’s okay. We planned for it being in this business, it’s so weather-contingent that it’s okay. We planned for it. People were able to get outside a little bit," Amber Durkin, operations manager at Rowing Dock, a kayak rental place, said.
Durkin and Austin Duck Adventures both say safety is their number one priority.
“Safety is obviously number one for us, we want people to have a good time, but we also want them to be safe," Durkin said.
Now businesses say they just hope for the best for the rest of the year.
“We have high hopes that this is gonna turn business around, and we’re gonna have a big influx of new business coming in as the lake is now open again and we can, uh, – hopefully not have too many rainstorms around here," Ojeda said.