It helps tremendously when we can get a cooperative approach between the various municipalities and counties because, of course, when you’re talking about flood mitigation, floodwaters don’t respect political boundaries.
WESLACO — On Wednesday, Texas’ new land commissioner, Dawn Buckingham, made her first official visit to the Rio Grande Valley since being sworn into office last month and she brought with her some big news — more than $12.5 million in funding for flood mitigation projects across Hidalgo and Cameron counties.
“We were in a hurry to get to the Valley because the Valley is such an important, amazing part of Texas,” an ebullient Buckingham said after making the announcement to a packed room of local officials at the Lower Rio Grande Development Council offices in Weslaco on Wednesday.
The Texas General Land Office awarded grants of up to $1 million to 13 entities across the two counties using federal disaster relief funds approved by Congress in the wake of powerful storms that ravaged the region in June 2018.
“It was really amazing to be able to come and give resources to some communities that may not have been able to do these projects without the resources that we brought,” Buckingham said.
Though some of Hidalgo County’s larger cities received awards — such as Edinburg and Mission, which received $1 million and $997,000, respectively — the majority of the GLO’s assistance went to smaller towns.
That was, in a way, by design, according to Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Commissioner David Fuentes.
County officials lent their technical and administrative support to those towns in order to better facilitate their applications for assistance, Fuentes said.
“We’re leveraging our local resources — we’re leveraging the county and our drainage district — to help our communities get money,” Fuentes said.
Doing so gives those communities access to resources they may not otherwise be privy to.
“These are communities that generally can’t afford to go out and produce the engineering components necessary to apply for these grants, much less go out for bonds and then try to get monies to create these projects,” the commissioner said.
That kind of collaboration has become vital for getting state and federal aid dollars to the Valley. And it’s become part of a shift by local leaders to think about issues in more regional terms.
“It’s so very important because any improvements that we make related to drainage impacts other cities,” Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr. said afterward. “These improvements that we’re making will not only affect our immediate area there in our city, but also our neighbors.”
Buckingham agreed.
“It helps tremendously when we can get a cooperative approach between the various municipalities and counties because, of course, when you’re talking about flood mitigation, floodwaters don’t respect political boundaries,” she said.
Floodwaters flow “from one town into another, from one county into another,” she added.
Projects that were awarded funding include:
>> $873,285 for flood improvements in the Duranta Avenue area of Alamo, including a 2.5-acre detention pond and drainage pipes;
>> $1 million for drainage improvements at the intersection of Mayberry Boulevard and East St. Jude Street in Alton;
>> $1 million to repair storm-related sewer system damage in Combes, including replacing 208 manhole covers;
>> $1 million to install five emergency backup pumps and five lift stations in Donna;
>> $1 million to rehabilitate the pump stations and gates at Chapin Pond, a 670-acre detention pond in north Edinburg;
>> $1 million Hidalgo County to expand drainage outfalls outside of Palmview;
>> $1 million to widen and install reinforced concrete piping and lining in La Feria’s drainage channels;
>> $1 million to double the capacity of La Villa’s drainage weir, which will also allow the town to store water for consumptive use;
>> $1 million to build three detention ponds in Mercedes which will provide flood protection to more than 761 acres in the area;
>> $997,236.75 to create a 4-acre detention pond in Mission near the intersections of Mile 1 South Road, La Cuchilla Circle Valley, West B Street and South Olmos Street;
>> $540,475.61 for drainage improvements on Azucena, Claveles, Magnolia and Tulipan streets in Palmview, which often flood;
>> $1 million to widen and enhance the city of Progreso’s primary drainage outfall, as well as create a regional detention pond;
>> $1 million to increase stormwater capacity along Heywood Street in Rio Hondo.
Buckingham said the Valley will continue to be a priority during her tenure with the GLO. She and her staff added that more help is coming, including federal disaster relief monies Congress approved in the wake of similar summer storms in 2019.
“This isn’t the end,” Fuentes, the Hidalgo County commissioner said. “There’s a (2019) disaster recovery… that they (the GLO) were ‘that close’ to being able to announce the awards for.”
