RAYMONDVILLE — For decades, residents along Durham Avenue have braced for flooding during heavy rains.
Along Raymondville’s low-lying north-central portion, the area includes some of the city’s most flood-prone neighborhoods.
Now, the Texas General Land Office has awarded the city a $992,850 grant to install a storm-drain pipe to help curb flooding in the low-income area made up of small wood-frame homes.
The grant, part of federal disaster recovery funds stemming from wide-spread flooding during October 2015 storms, does not require the city fund a matching share.
“I feel great,” Mayor Gilbert Gonzales said yesterday. “The people are going to love it.”
Gonzales said the 41-inch-wide pipeline will run 4,900 feet across an eight-block area from Fifth Street along West and East Durham to North 11th Street, where it will empty into the city’s drainage canal.
“The northwest side has always been a problem,” Gonzales said. “The water stands for a little while longer. This project will help drain the area quicker.”
The pipeline will replace an existing 12-inch-wide pipe, City Manager Eleazar Garcia said.
“Water is getting choked in this area so when it has no where to go, it floods,” Garcia said. “What we’re doing is enlarging the pipe to handle more water.”
Garcia said the project will include removal and replacement of streets in that area.
“It’s tearing up streets and putting in culverts,” he said.
Garcia said the project, expected to begin later this year, will be completed within six months to a year.
– Durham Avenue from North Fifth to North 10th
– North 10th from East Hidalgo to East Yturria
– North Fifth from East Main to East Durham
– East Yturria from North 10th to North 11th Street
