Reprint from the Progress Times - March 21, 2008
©Progress Times 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Mission levee improvements begin

 

After much maneuvering and wrangling by Hidalgo County Commissioners Court the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) has authorized construction to proceed on Rio Grande flood control levee improvements in Hidalgo County.

A $9.4 million dollar contract has been awarded to Ballenger Construction company to raise a 3.3-mile levee segment near the Hidalgo Reynosa Bridge and has authorized the Hidalgo County Drainage District Number 1 to proceed with work on the levee in Mission.

The work in Mission will be raising a 3.7-mile levee segment from the Banker Weir to the west end of the Mission Inlet Closure. Construction is expected to begin in May 2008 and be completed in December of 2008 at a price of $10 million. Funding for the project is coming from the county’s 2006 bond issue for drainage improvements.

Drainage District Number 1 Director Godfrey Garza said the decision to begin in Mission was two-fold.

"The reason this section is going to be worked on first is that it is the entrance to the old Mission inlet," said Garza. "Also, the Army Corps of Engineers have declared this to be the weakest section of the levee."

The Banker Floodway work is expected to be completed in eight months. Crews will raise the levee by an average of 6.7 feet to ensure adequate protection during the 100-year flood. As additional funding becomes available, the IBWC will proceed with levee improvements in other downstream locations.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Hidalgo County and the IBWC, the drainage district may construct other levee segments in the reach between Penitas and Mission if authorized by the IBWC.

According to Garza a second section of improvements has already been discussed and, if cleared, would begin at Anzalduas traveling east to 23rd Street.

This work comes on the heels of a study commissioned by Hidalgo County Drainage District Number 1 that said if the river levees in Hidalgo County were breached the direct cost to residents and businesses would be over $1.5 billion. These direct costs include damage to structures and their contents, $154 million in damage to automobiles and $507 million in alternative living arrangement expenses for the nearly 50,000 households that would be displaced by the flood.

The study, researched and written by Dr. Daniel Sutter, an associate professor of economics, finance and business at the University of Texas-Pan American, also concludes that "the disruption of life" in Hidalgo County would last for weeks, if not months.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said the report was a frightening one.

"The costs of a levee breach are by far even more tremendous than the cost of mandatory flood insurance, which we have said would harm our economy to no end. Now we’re not talking millions of dollars; we’re talking billions of dollars," said Salinas. "This study sends shivers down my spine and it should send shivers down the spines of residents and businesses living here and of the officials elected to serve them."