Texas Drowning Victim from Hudson Valley

By Tony Cantu (Patch Staff)

Austin, TX — Travis County Sheriff's Office officials on Friday identified the drowning victim whose body was found at Lake Travis last week.

The deceased is Brian Robinson, 31, of Hartsdale, officials said.

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On June 11, emergency officials responded to the Devil's Hollow portion of Lake Travis at about 3:45 p.m. after receiving reports of a person missing from a party barge. Rescue teams from Lake Travis Fire and Rescue and the Travis County Sheriff's Office were unable to locate the person.

The search for the missing swimmer resumed the following Sunday. The following Monday, TCSO deputies enhanced their search by adding divers and counterparts from the Texas Department of Public Safety to embark on a search that lasted six hours, officials said.

Shortly before 8 p.m. during the enhanced, diver-assisted search, a Lake Travis resident called 911 to report seeing a floating object in Devil's Hollow. It was Robinson's body.

Emergency officials recovered the body and transported it to the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of death. Detectives later located Robinson's next of kin and notified them of the discovery.

Lake Travis is one of the local bodies of water at which recreational swimming and boating activities have been intermittently banned as a result of recent flooding. Heavy recent rains have increased water levels at Lake Travis and other waterways along with adding flood-related debris, making such activities treacherous.

The lake's Lower Colorado River Authority stewards re-opened Lake Travis on June 10 after having closed it on June 6 due to its altered flood-related conditions, deeming it to now be safe for recreational use. Water levels have slowly began to recede after earlier heavy downpours, and it currently is hovering at a level of about 691 feet.

Robinson is one of four people to die on area waterways made more treacherous by stronger currents and added debris in the wake of recent flooding. Previously, a woman drowned at the naturally fed Barton Springs Pool and two died in Barton Creek in the same manner.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article erroneously said Robinson was from White Plains. Officials from Texas originally provided that information. He was from Hartsdale.