Close call: Flash floods impact Valley, mostly miss resaca city

Minor flood
A house on Jim Bowie street was one of the few most heavily hit in San Benito. Homeowner Javier Araiza was unable to drive his truck out of his driveway.
(Photo by David Lopez)

Receding waters
Also on Jim Bowie street were several houses impacted by the heavy rains. One resident said all they could do was wait for the water to recede.
(Photo by David Lopez)

By DAVID LOPEZ
editor@sbnewspaper.com

Monday night’s surprise thunderstorms and heavy lightning showers resulted in flash floods across the Valley, affecting areas in Willacy, Cameron, and Hidalgo county. Harlingen and La Feria were most affected in Cameron County according to weather reports, but San Benito was almost untouched save for a few rural homes.

City Manager Manuel De La Rosa commented on the weather event Tuesday morning, saying that the San Benito Fire Department sent him a notification at 4:24 a.m. that they had sent two fire trucks with a rescue boat to La Feria as part of a mutual agreement in aiding the communities hurt by the floods.

“We ran fire calls all night. We had rescue vehicles out but we received no rescue calls,” said De La Rosa. “We sent out some vehicles to low lying areas, but no calls about flooding were reported. Waters had mostly receded by the late morning.”

Javier Araiza, a rural resident living on Jim Bowie street, owns one of the few affected homes in San Benito facing flooding and temporary power outages. He said he called the city Tuesday morning.

“The city came, transportation, I think, and they were just removing the debris that would block the canal. All we can do is wait till it drains,” he said.

However, Araiza did not seem too worried, as he said flooding is a common occurrence when it rains heavily.

“Once we heard the thunderstorms last night we knew it would get flooded, so we moved the cars closer to the caliche, but it wasn’t enough to be able to get the cars out. I had to call-in to work, but all the people were off today too because they live in La Feria and Santa Rosa, and they got flooded too,” said Araiza.

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