Buffalo Springs Lake says large crowd caught them by surprise

Buffalo Springs Lake, the small oasis just outside Lubbock’s city limits that offers one of the few lake-shores on the South Plains, was flooded with visitors over the weekend.

Temperatures reached the century mark across much of the area, and on the first weekend the city in over a month in which the state wasn’t under a stay-at-home order, the beach in Lubbock County became crowded beyond the capabilities of social distancing. There were vehicles lined up for hundreds of yards to get in.

On Saturday afternoon, it appeared Buffalo Springs Lake hosted Lubbock’s first large public gathering in over a month.

Tish Simmons, secretary, said what happened over the weekend caught everybody by surprise. Simmons said Buffalo Springs Lake has been open the entire pandemic. They were prepared for a little rush, but not like the one they had.

“What happened was incredibly unexpected,” Simmons said over the phone on Monday. “We don’t get lines like that unless it’s the Fourth of July. That took all of us by surprise.”

Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parrish said Buffalo Springs Lake’s law enforcement was sent to emphasize social distancing. Members of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department were also there.

“Game Wardens patrolling Buffalo Springs are seeing abnormally high numbers of people on the water, comparable to a Memorial Day or July 4th holiday weekend,” Aaron Sims, lieutenant game warden for the Lubbock district, said over the weekend. “They are focusing on enforcing water safety violations to keep people safe as they recreate.”

On Sunday at 8 p.m. the beach was closed, although the lake remains open.

On Monday, Simmons said the beach will continue to be open during the day and close at 8 p.m. Simmons said she believes the beach is large enough to practice social distancing when there’s not a large crowd.

It’ll close at 8 p.m. because she said that’s when many of their younger guests visit the beach. She said the crowd on Saturday was also mostly young people.

The crowd on Saturday began forming in the early afternoon. Simmons said the weekend policy is being looked at. She said Buffalo Springs Lake hopes to have a plan in place prior to this upcoming weekend.

Right now, Simmons said their plan is to close the beach at 8 p.m. every night until further notice.

“The police will be monitoring and breaking up big groups,” Simmons said.

Parrish said the decision at Buffalo Springs Lake will ultimately be up to the board of the directors, and there could be guidance from the state’s department of parks and wildlife. Parrish said he’d advise the lake’s leaders to set a limit on the number of cars allowed inside. Parrish said this should have been in place before the weekend. It’s not like a city park where people can come and go from multiple directions — there’s one entrance at Buffalo Springs Lake.

The scene at the lake over the weekend was a main topic of Monday’s City of Lubbock news conference. The city doesn’t have jurisdiction over the lake, but Mayor Dan Pope said he was in communication with the county judge and the sheriff’s office.

“We’re very aware of the situation at Buffalo Springs Lake,“ Pope said on Monday. ”We’re pleased that they took action yesterday to close their beach.“

Dr. Ron Cook, Lubbock health authority, talked a bit about the dangers of these social gatherings the city and health officials are trying to limit. He said the pictures appeared to show young individuals, and some of them could be asymptomatic.

“If somebody is sick, or asymptomatic, and is carrying the virus, and they’re in a group of 10 or 15 people there, then they’re going to hand this virus off to them,” Cook said. “We’ll see what happens in a week, 10 days or 14 days.

Image captured from video of a reported brawl late Saturday into early Sunday morning at Buffalo Springs Lake. [SOURCE: FACEBOOK]

“That’s why it’s so dangerous,” he continued. “These individuals then take it home to their households, or their loved ones, and now they’re going to get their loved ones sick. They don’t mean to, certainly nobody wants to purposefully give somebody an illness that could kill them, and obviously it could kill people.”

The scenario Cook described is the reason there are restrictions on social gatherings, Cook said, because people could be carrying the virus without knowing it.

Cook also pointed out that he didn’t see anyone in the photos he’s seen wearing a facial covering, which is recommended when out in public.

Pope said if people want to report a situation they feel is out of line, to call Lubbock police department’s non-emergency phone number at (806) 775-2865.