Four days after torrential rains inundated many parts of Brownsville Pastor Ezequiel Rivera was busy pumping out water from the lawn in front of his church Templo Uncion De Lo Alto on Paredes Line Boulevard.

The water trash pumps worked continuously to remove the standing water from the front grounds of the church to a nearby ditch.

“It started raining on Friday and we have been pumping since Saturday eight o’clock in the morning until 10 p.m. in the night,” Rivera said on Monday, “and yesterday (Sunday) we started at 8 in the morning until 7 o’clock in the evening.”

Rivera isn’t sure just how much water he had pumped out but said that one of the pumps releases 800 gallons of water per hour. But not only is he having to deal with removing water, but many homes around the area used septic tanks that were over flowing. “There’s a lot of stuff there getting out,” he said.

Although the church did not flood, Rivera said the water went up to the second step leading into the church. Had the water risen to the third step, it’s likely that house of worship would have been flooded.

“I feel bad when I see this type of flooding but I am trying to help the community by removing the water from the area,” Rivera said.

Cameron County and the City of Brownsville will hold a food drive beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday to help those individuals affected by the flooding. The items to be distributed include non-perishable food, water and cleaning supplies. The distribution will continue until supplies last.

The distribution sites are the Brownsville Event Center, 1 Event Dr., and the Cameron County Precinct 1 Warehouse at 2050 S. Browne Ave.

Friday’s heavy rainfall with amounts of 4 to 8 inches of rain in the matter of a couple of hours was too much for drainage systems to handle with significant flash flooding occurring during late Friday afternoon into early Friday evening, a report released by the National Weather Service in Brownsville stated.

Much of the heavy rain occurred in east, southeast, and east northeast Brownsville receiving 10.72 inches of rain, 9.45 inches of rain and 8.40 inches of rain, respectively, from Thursday evening to midnight Saturday, the NWS reports.

A view of standing water near Los Fresnos from last weeks torrential rainfall in Brownsville as residents continue to deal with the aftermath. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

“The combination of an upper level disturbance crossing the southern Great Plains, upper level wind and a low level low pressure system moving east from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and prior boundaries from earlier thunderstorms north of the Rio Grande Valley and from morning thunderstorms along the coast combined with deep atmospheric tropical moisture to create a thunderstorm “system”, including a heavy-precipitation “supercell” event,” the NWS reports.

The peak of the heavy rainfall occurred between 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday with some locations in east and northeast Brownsville receiving 7 to 8 inches of rain in two hours or a little more, the report stated.

The NWS reports the flooding was so intense in Brownsville that during the peak time “hundreds of streets were impassable, hundreds of vehicles became trapped in high water, with many partially submerged or totally submerged.”

Many harvested fields in Cameron County between Brownsville, Los Fresnos and Rio Hondo were filled with water as well. Some of those fields remained filled with water on Monday morning.

“Based on first-hand reports from residents and law enforcement, peak water depth in streets, parking lots and other locations ranged from ‘waist to chest high’ – 3 to 4 feet,” the report states.

The Brownsville police and fire departments performed numerous water rescues as well as the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department.

Templo Cristiano Unción De Lo Alto Pastor Ezequiel Rivera uses his engine driven utility pump Monday to remove standing water from last weeks torrential rainfall in Brownsville as residents continue to deal with the aftermath. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

On the sheriff’s department Twitter Page, Sheriff Eric Garza said his deputies conducted water rescues in Cameron Park, Dakota Road and Ruben Torres Sr. Boulevard. On its Facebook Page, the Brownsville Police Department showed images of its officers assisting in rescues as well.

But Brownsville wasn’t the only city to be affected by torrential rain, parts of northeast Harlingen received 8.41 inches of rain, east northeast San Benito received 5.5 inches of rain, northeast Los Fresnos received 4.99 inches of rain, Port Isabel received 4.05 inches of rain and Laguna Vista received 3 inches of rain.

The torrential rains that hit the Harlingen area spiked flow in the Arroyo Colorado, with a peak level of 14.97 ranking 8th highest on the historical record and just below the most recent October Rio Grande Valley flood events in late October 2015, the report states.

The flash flooding throughout Cameron County prompted Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. on Saturday to declare the county an area of disaster. The City of Brownsville also issued a disaster declaration as well.

The City of Brownsville established a self-reporting tool – iSTAT – for residents to use to report damage their homes received due to Friday’s flooding. Residents may also access the tool at https://damage.tdem.texas.gov/

The NWS report concluded :“Bottom line? Even if neighborhood drainage capacity was rated for the ‘100 year’ flood, the 2-hour rainfall rates overwhelmed said systems -and widespread flash flooding was inevitable.”

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