Posted: Wed, 8 Jun 2016 02:01 PM - 63,237 Readers

By: Melanie Torre

Lake Travis businesses are feeling the impact of an overflowing lake. It's having the biggest effect on those that can't even get to their own front door.

The Sundancer Grill looks more like an island than a restaurant. They're temporarily closed until lake levels subside. The building itself isn't underwater but there's no business to be had when staff and customers can't even get inside. Their parking lot is about 5 feet under water. Their playground is nearly submerged. The owner hopes to reopen by the middle of next week.

Recreational boating on Lake Travis is banned, but commercial trips are taking people to and from businesses like the Gnarly Gar.

"We have a shuttle that we are running back and forth from here to our parking lot for anybody that wants to come to this restaurant," explains general manager Jay Poe.

The boat ban leaves the Gnarly Gar's slips empty. The restaurant's tables and chairs are empty too, but Poe says it's only a matter of time before business is booming.

"I am totally not concerned about them coming. It's a matter of when they're going to be here," he says.

Poe started working at the Gnarly Gar six years ago during the peak of the drought.

"I joked, 'come out and watch the water level fall.' Where as now it's, 'come out and watch the water level rise.'"

For those who take him up on the offer- - the Gnarly Gar is waiting and the fish are too.

"Once we get all of the debris ... get the bacteria out and people feel safe boating ... I think we're going to have the best summer we've ever had," Poe says.

The LCRA says as of late afternoon Tuesday they'd only come across one boat violating the recreational boat ban. That person was given a warning. LCRA Rangers will continue to patrol Lake Travis until the lake reopens. Violators face a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $500.

*  Story Contributed by: Melanie Torre