Heavy rain hits the Valley
Western Hidalgo County prepares for impact
Amid hurricane season, the Rio Grande Valley witnessed seven-inch rainfalls the past week while western Hidalgo County prepares for flooding.
On Tuesday afternoon, a storm spread inland off the Gulf of Mexico coast, inching across the RGV and repeating the process Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS) of Brownsville/Rio Grande Valley, a flood and tornado watch remained active until Thursday afternoon as rain covered 80-100% of the region.
With rain and wind rolling in, Barry Goldsmith, NWS Warning Coordinating Meteorologist, told the Progress Times that the Valley will see an influx of rain after a heavy drought period.
“The main thing for people to remember is that the Valley is like a lot of Texas recently — a state of perpetual drought broken by the occasional devastating flood. And in a sense, we’ve been pretty dry and pretty darn hot for much of the last six weeks,” said Goldsmith, saying that the main takeaway is the Valley experiencing torrential (or heavy) rain.
Past torrential rain in the RGV
Heavy rainfall is known to cause hazards such as flash floods and widespread flooding, something that the RGV continues to struggle with as a flat area delta.
The last non-hurricane, torrential rain the Valley experienced with great impact was in 2018.
The Valley experienced flooding across its eastern and western regions after 6 to 8 inches of rainfall. Over a few days, between 12 and more than 18 inches fell in the McAllen/Mission area according to the NWS website.
“At least 2700 residences and businesses were estimated to be flooded in many neighborhoods in Mission and McAllen,” the NWS reported on June 20, 2018.
Outside the drainage district
For western Hidalgo County and rural areas on the outskirts of urban cities, the lack of proper drainage during a heavy storm is a cause for concern.
Drainage District No. 1 covers all four precincts within the county. The cities of Sullivan, La Joya, and Peñitas, however, are not included, meaning that these areas may struggle with the rainfall without proper drainage.
“I know that the La Joya main road seems to be kind of low line and maybe they’ve flooded in the past,” Goldsmith said. “If they get that kind of rainfall rates and duration of such, meaning two to three hours…there will be flooding there.”
However, if there are effective drainage techniques implemented by the municipalities, flooding may be minimal.
No matter the case, Precinct 3 and Hidalgo County are prepared to offer maintenance to citizens who experience flooding during the next week.
For those areas that are most affected — contact the Precinct,” said Deputy Isidro Rosales with the Hidalgo County Drainage District 1.
Preparing for what comes
This week, cities and county commissioners hosted sandbag fillings for residents. Precinct 3 reported a total of 2.5K sandbags distributed alone on Tuesday afternoon, with over one thousand tons of sand purchased.
The Precinct also took time to donate sandbags to the surrounding cities of La Joya, Sullivan, Granjeno, and the La Joya ISD Future Farmers of America to keep livestock safe.
Rosales advised citizens to stock up on supplies such as bottled water in the case of a power outage. But he warns to not overload on supplies.
“Don’t try to overdo it by taking a lot of resources out of the counter or the store when other people need it,” he said. “Try to get what you need.”
He further advised drivers to avoid going through floodwaters.
“People have got to understand that we’re going to be preoccupied and helping people that don’t have proper drainage,” he said. “And then for people driving in floodways — it kind of contradicts our support.”
