BROWNSVILLE — The Rio Grande Valley is bracing for a storm.
As of yesterday afternoon, the remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey may have been on track to hit Corpus Christi, but Cameron County officials were ready in the event the storm changes course.
“We had a conference call with all the cities in Cameron County, and the main questions people are asking about are sandbags and shelters,” Emergency Management Coordinator Tom Hushen said.
It is important that local municipalities work with the county to coordinate an organized response, Hushen said.
“We have to work on it together. That’s what we stress. … We don’t want a city to go rogue, only to have everyone asking what they are doing,” Hushen said.
“We don’t want the burden to be on one city. We’re trying to do our part for the region.”
Hushen said the county holds monthly meetings with every EMS coordinator in the county.
The benefit to everyone being on the same page is that, in the event that sandbags are necessary, sandbag distribution points are online all at once, in locations throughout the county, Hushen said.
The county is expecting anywhere from half an inch to two inches of rain, and in the worst case, about four inches of rain, Hushen said.
“If we get localized flooding, we do have pumps available to get the water out quicker. Public Works has that on a list, and they’ll be able to respond very quickly,” Hushen said.
Ricardo Saldana, the Hidalgo County EMC coordinator, said county workers were in the process of preparing sand bags and testing water pumps Tuesday afternoon.
Hidalgo County is also planning extra patrols and contacting contractors of any road projects to have pumps ready in case of excessive flooding.
“We’re preparing in every aspect,” Saldana said.
Saldana also said Hidalgo County is always there to support Cameron and Willacy counties.
In a statement, the City of Brownsville said it was working with the National Weather Service in Brownsville to prepare.
“The City of Brownsville Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security is working with the National Weather Service in Brownsville, county and state Officials to closely monitor weather conditions to ensure proper preparedness and safety in our community,” said Christina Garza, community engagement coordinator.
Josh Schroeder, the science and operations officer at NWS Brownsville, said there was no organized storm as of Tuesday afternoon.
“The remnants of it are just starting to emerge … so the track of that and the intensity is fairly uncertain at this time,” Schroeder said. “In general, the computer forecast model sort of consensus has trended more toward the Corpus Christi area, but some models show it coming along the lower Texas coastline.”
Schroeder said the NWS would have a better idea of what is going to happen this morning.
Isolated showers and thunderstorms were expected on Tuesday evening, but that was not because of Harvey. Those showers are part of the usual summer pattern, he said.
If the storm goes up to Corpus Christi, Cameron County, Willacy County, and Kennedy County will likely still experience one to three inches of rainfall.
In the event that Harvey did hit the Rio Grande Valley, the rainfall would likely be about two to four inches in a more widespread area and further in-land toward Zapata and Rio Grande City.
The only city in Cameron County that may be distributing sandbags this morning is South Padre Island. Even if the storm does not hit, the Island will have high tides, Hushen said.
“We don’t foresee evacuations. The only chance of any type of evacuation, and it would depend on (this morning) would be high-profile vehicles off the Island. Other than that, we’ll ride the storm out and be there to help people,” Hushen said.
As a preventive measure, sandbags will be available to South Padre Island residents and businesses to help prevent possible water damage to properties. Pick up of sandbags will be today through tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Public Works Workshop located at the corner of West Venus and Laguna Boulevard. Sand will be available at the Convention Center located at 7355 Padre Boulevard.
