Torrential rains that flooded parts of Brownsville Oct. 1 might have caused a Cameron County Drainage District No. 1 flood gate to malfunction.
On Thursday, the malfunctioning gate affected water levels for the resaca at the Brownsville Event Center and behind the Walmart on Ruben Torres Sr. Boulevard.
The Oct. 1 surge caused huge rocks to wedge into the slide gate and prevented the sluice gate from lowering to prevent the water from draining out, said Michael Cisneros, of Divert Construction.
The construction firm is repairing the gate, which is operated by the Cameron County Drainage District No. 1.
Cisneros said tree branches were also wedged under the sluice gate.
“This was due to the strong surge of water caused by Mother Nature,” Cisneros said.
Reports of rainfall amounts of up to 10 inches were recorded in Brownsville on Oct. 1.
The National Weather Service in Brownsville had said, “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.”
Following high levels in resacas following the storm, the water levels in the resaca behind Walmart and the Brownsville Event Center dropped Thursday, with the earth from the dried out resaca bed visible.
Cisneros said the parts needed to repair the gates have been ordered and will be installed as soon as they arrive. He estimates it will take between two to five days for the water levels in the resaca to rise again.
Brownsville Public Utilities Board will be in charge of providing water to the resaca, he said.
