Tuesday night rain produces 'minimal flooding' in Mid-Valley

MERCEDES — Most water from Tuesday night’s heavy rain has drained, Assistant City Manager Michelle Leftwich said.

National Weather Service instruments at the Mercedes water filtration plant at 208 S. Illinois St. measured 1.09 inches on Tuesday, but weather service meteorologist Gregg Flatt said it is likely that other areas of the city received as much as 4 inches of rain.

“We had some minimal flooding in areas that have been hit and keep getting water,” Leftwich said.

“I haven’t gotten any reports of people getting water in their homes with the exception of the Casa Saldaña apartments,” she said in reference to an apartment complex at 1225 N. Farm-to-Market Road 491. “Most reports have been water in yards and standing water in the streets.”

But Leftwich said the water was draining quickly.

“We did get the drainage district to open up one of the floodgates to let our ditches go down so we can take more into our system if need be,” she said. “Hopefully we can continue to keep people dry.”

Leftwich said residents can help the city to prevent flooding by not dumping trash and debris in city drainage ditches or gutters.

The low-lying Tio Cano Lake area, north of La Feria and south of Santa Rosa on FM 506, escaped a repeat of the destructive flooding that followed Hurricane Dolly in July 2008.

FM 506 was clear as of Wednesday afternoon, with minimal standing water in some low points.

“By (Wednesday) morning, whatever flooding that was out there was mostly gone,” said Tony Peña Jr., Hidalgo County’s emergency management coordinator.

Peña said all the work city officials in Weslaco and Mercedes have done to clean out drains and ditches has paid off.

“Instead of having flooding for four to five days, it’s gone within hours,” he said.

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Gabriel Saldana is a reporter with the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen. Nick Pipitone covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.