With hurricane season upon us, it is time for Cameron County residents to ask ourselves again how long will residents of Brownsville and other cities will put up with the heartache many families faced during chronic flooding events when many of them saw their homes and property under water?
How many times will Brownsville residents in low-lying areas have to tear out their carpets and have their furniture ruined every time we get a hard rain?
How many times will local residents have to fix their cars because they had to drive through flooded streets as a result of a poor drainage system?
How many times will the bone-jarring shocks of potholed streets damage tires, windshields, shocks, and other automobile parts that result when the patchwork of asphalt repairs washes away time after time?
City elected officials and administrators should know that kind words of concern will no longer do. Soothing words about the flooding being an unusual event won’t do either.
This problem has to be fixed. And it has to be fixed now.
The much-vaunted drainage improvements done along Boca Chica Boulevard in the recent years have proved to be a farce. Millions of dollars in taxpayer money seemed to have been spent in vain. Who’ll answer for that?
In fact, in a world and nation where accountability is the byword, who’s accountable for the recurring flooding in our community?
It’s time to acknowledge that the system we have in place does not work. City officials talk up the Impala pump as if it were the salvation to all our drainage problems. Obviously, it is not. It takes a long time to prime the pump, and when it works the city has already been under water for hours.
The dike and levee systems in place to keep water from spilling into the city from the Rio Grande actually prevent rainwater from getting to the river, the natural drain for runoff from the Rio Grande watershed. Until a hurricane makes a direct hit (as in Beulah), it has been decades since there was any danger of the river overflowing its banks.
Cameron County faced recurring problems with flooding in Valle Escondido and found a solution by building an outfall to the river. Recent experience indicates the outfall works and kept the colonia from flooding, and with septic tanks still being used still used in some colonias along the river, the health justifications for preventing disease-bearing sewage from flowing through the subdivisions is critical.
Isn’t it time the city and county got together and explored whether we can construct two or three outfalls along the river where water collects to divert water to the river? Under the current system, water is diverted toward the port channel, where it flows out into the Gulf of Mexico. However, if there is a high tide, it will take longer for the water to drain since we are practically at the same water level as the port.
What we have in place in Brownsville and the surrounding (and rapidly developing) rural areas is basically an irrigation system passing as a drainage system. That irrigation system worked fine if the goal was to water crops. It does not work as well in carrying off rainwater. To argue otherwise is to ignore the sad reality we have experienced in the recent past.
The system dates back to the 1920s, with minor improvements made over the years. Still, it remains what it was designed for: to carry water from the river to the farmlands. Our region is basically a watershed of the Rio Grande. Before it was dammed upriver, it periodically changed course when it was running full from rains upstream and from its tributaries. The resacas are testament to that fact. They take us back to the times that the river changed course on its way to the Gulf.
Now is the time for the city, the county, the PUB, and all irrigation and drainage districts to come together and form a solution to this recurrent problem. Otherwise, we can continue pumping money into street improvements only to see them washed away because we have not had the political will to tackle this problem.
How many times will local residents have to fix their cars because they had to drive through flooded streets as a result of a poor drainage system?
How many times will the bone-jarring shocks of potholed streets damage tires, windshields, shocks, and other automobile parts that result when the patchwork of asphalt repairs washes away time after time?
City elected officials and administrators should know that kind words of concern will no longer do. Soothing words about the flooding being an unusual event won’t do either.
This problem has to be fixed. And it has to be fixed now.
In fact, in a world and nation where accountability is the byword, who’s accountable for the recurring flooding in our community?
It’s time to acknowledge that the system we have in place does not work. City officials talk up the Impala pump as if it were the salvation to all our drainage problems. Obviously, it is not. It takes a long time to prime the pump, and when it works the city has already been under water for hours.
The dike and levee systems in place to keep water from spilling into the city from the Rio Grande actually prevent rainwater from getting to the river, the natural drain for runoff from the Rio Grande watershed. Until a hurricane makes a direct hit (as in Beulah), it has been decades since there was any danger of the river overflowing its banks.
Cameron County faced recurring problems with flooding in Valle Escondido and found a solution by building an outfall to the river. Recent experience indicates the outfall works and kept the colonia from flooding, and with septic tanks still being used still used in some colonias along the river, the health justifications for preventing disease-bearing sewage from flowing through the subdivisions is critical.
Isn’t it time the city and county got together and explored whether we can construct two or three outfalls along the river where water collects to divert water to the river? Under the current system, water is diverted toward the port channel, where it flows out into the Gulf of Mexico. However, if there is a high tide, it will take longer for the water to drain since we are practically at the same water level as the port.
What we have in place in Brownsville and the surrounding (and rapidly developing) rural areas is basically an irrigation system passing as a drainage system. That irrigation system worked fine if the goal was to water crops. It does not work as well in carrying off rainwater. To argue otherwise is to ignore the sad reality we have experienced in the recent past.The system dates back to the 1920s, with minor improvements made over the years. Still, it remains what it was designed for: to carry water from the river to the farmlands. Our region is basically a watershed of the Rio Grande. Before it was dammed upriver, it periodically changed course when it was running full from rains upstream and from its tributaries. The resacas are testament to that fact. They take us back to the times that the river changed course on its way to the Gulf.
Now is the time for the city, the county, the PUB, and all irrigation and drainage districts to come together and form a solution to this recurrent problem. Otherwise, we can continue pumping money into street improvements only to see them washed away because we have not had the political will to tackle this problem.
Since many of these projects are to be paid from future taxes on local properties, we are actually indebting ourselves and future generations. Currently, we are literally throwing money down the drain.
Enough is enough. It’s time for our leaders to act and solve this problem. We don’t need to create new taxing entities. We are already taxed to death.
Additional outfalls to the river may only be part of the solution. But it’s a beginning. And we need to start now.
Enough is enough. It’s time for our leaders to act and solve this problem. We don’t need to create new taxing entities. We are already taxed to death.
Additional outfalls to the river may only be part of the solution. But it’s a beginning. And we need to start now.
11 comments:
We should submit flood photos of our neighborhoods in United Brownsville's contest. Did you know I can not drive to my mother's house when it rains. I have to walk through two to four feet of water if I want to go, so I do not go.
"because we have not had the political will to tackle this problem."
EDIT: Replace political will with "huevos" and you've made your point succinctly.
Mr. Unpaid Editor
Our so called leader are very busy, echandose las mordidas en la bolsa.
proper drainage in this city is not an insurmountable goal. you are right when you say that all the entities need to come together. i can tell you that what we don't need is to be consolidated into one valley or county drainage system. brownsville, at least, is comprised of separate watersheds that have nothing to do with the river or the rest of the valley, unless there is a major river flood that is greater than hurricane alex a couple of years ago. water from upriver will split off into the floodway at mercedes, or into the arroyo and diivert around brownsville. but back to our local problem. you are correct about the creation of our drainage system. it is actually an irrigation system. back in 2000, the cameron county drainage district 1 implemnted a policy that requires devvelopers to account for the increased runoff they cause by developing virgin land. an example of this can be seen behind the kmart and old navy. at the time, the city leaders fought the drainage district to the point that they removed the drainage district's ability to disapprove subdivision plats. state rep. oliveira actually tried to file a bill to disband the drainage district at that time as well. thankfully, the rule stood and the bill failed. through much work, the district fought and filed a bill that compelled the city to reinstate the drainage district as a plat approving entity. that is really the only step that has been taken to improve our city drainage. well, actually there was another. the paseo de la resaca development partnered with the drainage district to create a lake to detain stormwater. this has been a blessing for the residents in neighborhoods such as winter haven and towne north. at the same time, the district excavated a 300 acre foot detention pond in the same area to further alleviate problems in those areas. unfortunately, now, the district has lost focus of its mission and has gottne into the business of building parks. the large park they are building around the 300 acre foot detention pond involves filling a large portion of this critical flood prevention feature with water. they will argue that they can release water in advance of a hurricane like the pub does with the resacas. unfortunatey, however brownsvilles worst rains have not been related to hurricanes and they typically happen on weekends, when the district offices are closed. the district also seems to be losing focus of their ditch maintaining. if you look behind the chopstix restaurant, the main ditch that serves north brownsville is being retaken by large trees that havent existed in the ditch since before the year 2000. the same scenario is visible on the north main drain at southmost between mcdonalds and churchs. this once clean ditch is hardly visible because of the large trees that have overtaken it.
(at the time, the city leaders fought the drainage district to the point that)
Was all that written in one sentence? Somebody call Ripley's.
Vince Vaughn
Just a comment. Cameron County does not drain to the Rio Grande, it drains toward the Arroyo Colorado and the coast. Talk to an hydrologist and you learn that a bunch of the highest ground in Brownsville is along the banks of the resacas because, over the years, prior to the construction of dams up-river of Brownsville, as the river overflowed it's banks, silt and soil deposits were left along the river banks until eventually they were higher then the surrounding land. This prevents water from draining into the river. Kind of a natural levee directly on the banks of the river. That is one reason so many of the great old early houses in the Valley are right on the river, or right were the rover used to flow, that was often the highest ground around.
Mescalero
Your analysis and comments were all true and well intended. The politicians all know the problem. They don't care. They know that voters don't vote so they get elected by the few "compardes".
We need to establish a citizens group that can address the problem. Then we can put he pressure on the elected officials to do something for the public or we clean house and repalce them with honest concerned citizens.
There are several obvious problems that should be addressed:
A. Consider the impact of development on flooding the streets and other developed areas...an engineering and zoning issue. The development of housing areas along Military Highway has guaranteed that the water has no place to go but to the roads....
B. Many new roads are lower than drainage ditches....not smart engineering. Hwy 802 is one of those, especially near Robindale Rd. The frontage roads are another example of low roads and poor drainage.
C. Drainage ditches in the County are poorly attended and many are full of trash and overgrowith. The drainage ditch that parallels Dr. Hugh Emerson Road....especially between Dana Road and Robindale has be cleared only once in the 20 plus years that I have lived here. It is due cleaning now. The focus on politicians of highly visable "ditches"...even planting flowers....means that some go without attention, like the one described. It is not the only one.
Speaking of trash....citizens continue to dispose of their trash along the roads and in drainage ditches. This won't stop until County and City officials enforce dumping laws. Here too, the "pobricito rule" in play with politicians.....don't issue citiations to poor people...as a way to insure the vote in the next election. That is a staple of local Democratic Party politics.
Mwscalero, Great analysis. Very few realize that the river is higher than most of brownsville. but there are a couple of neighborhoods that rely on the river. JoAnn Lane is one of them, and I think Colonia Galaxia may be another.
to 11:33 anony, did you notice that the worst streets you mentioned are all fairly recently rebuilt txdot roads? they seem to be fascinated by lowering everything at least 4 feet when they rebuild. also, the ditch that parallels hugh emerson used to be regularly maintained by the drainage district, like many of the others, but they are slowly losing their touch.
Aqui tienen estimado publico, los empleados de esta ciudad solo ganan buen dinero cada quincena por hacer NADA, y los de la Ciudad bien que nos cobran Taxes tan altas y aqui tienen las condiciones del drenaje, kien le paga a la gente humilde la perdida de sus pertenencias personales? no es posible, que estemos viendo estas viviendas en estas condiciones, la gente se enferma, los ninos tambien, esto es falta de humanidad y responsabilidad, ponganse a trabajar y desquiten el sueldo que se les esta pagando, bola de ratas de dos patas!!!
Ahhh pero eso si...muy buenos que son para invertir dinero en estupidas propagandas para ser elegidos por nuestra comunidad, bien que engatuzan al publico para que uno vote por gentusa como lo que tenemos, y luego se olvidan del publico y de las necesidades de nuestra ciudad, ahh pero eso si que son buenisimos para cobrar sus checkes, para utilizar los beneficios y seguros que se les brinda GRACIAS A LA CIUDAD!!! pero estos estupidos no hacen absolutamente nada por ella, solo se chingan el dinero y se olvidan que tienen un compromiso serio con la ciudad y nuestra comunidad. RATEROS Y SINVERGUENZAS, PONGANSE A TRABAJAR Y DEQUITEN EL SUELDO QUE SE LES PAGA RATAS DE DOS PATAS.
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