Dried Up: Photos Reveal Devastating Texas Drought

Drought-Striken Longhorn

A skinny longhorn in west Texas drought.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

A scrawny Longhorn in Big Bend Ranch State Park, West Texas. Lower-than-usual levels of vegetation have left both livestock and wildlife struggling to find food. [Read Full Story]

Dried Lakebed

Lake Travis near Austin, Texas, during drought.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

Lake Travis, near Austin, Tex., at 46.5 feet (14 meters) lower than usual.

Uncovered Treasures

Cell phones from the bottom of Lake Travis.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

Lost a cell phone? As Lake Travis dried, the receding waters revealed gadgets dropped by boaters.

Blood-Red Lake

OC Fisher Reservoir in Texas turned red in the drought.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

As water levels dropped in OC Fischer Reservoir west of San Angelo, Tex., bacteria took over the stagnant, low-oxygen water. These bacteria turned the lake the color of blood. Dead fish, unable to survive without oxygen, float in the blood-red lake.

Dwindling Lake

OC Fisher Reservoir in Texas turned red in the drought.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

Little is left of the O.C. Fischer reservoir, which once has a maximum depth of 58 feet (17.6 m).

Fish Die-off

Fish in O.C. Fischer died due to low oxygen.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

Dead fish dot the remains of blood-red O.C. Fischer Reservoir.

Belly-up

OC Fisher Reservoir in Texas turned red in the drought.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

A dead fish floats in O.C. Fischer Reservoir. Without enough oxygen in the water, the fish could not survive.

Cracked Earth

Drought conditions in Buescher State Park, Texas.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

Dried ground in Buescher State Park near Smithville, Tex.

Before and After

Lake Texana before and after the 2011 Texas drought.

(Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife)

Lake Texana between Houston and Corpus Christi. Above, normal conditions. Below, drought conditions.

Dead Cow

Dead cow during the 2011 Texas drought.

(Image credit: Earl Nottingham, Texas Parks and Wildlife)

The carcass of a cow that became mired in the mud in a dry stock tank in Knox County, Texas during the summer drought.

Bastrop Fire

The Bastrop fire burned in Texas in summer 2011

(Image credit: Alan Fisher, © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

The sky stained red over the Bastrop fire, which burned more than 34,000 acres in September 2011.

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science Contributor

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.