(Courtesy photo/Ray Quiroga)
By RAY QUIROGA
publisher@sbnewspaper.com
It began as a typical Thursday evening for San Benito resident, musician, and music instructor Michael Marks.
Despite the ominous overcast skies reported on March 27, he marked the time at his place of work, a performing arts studio located in downtown Harlingen, patiently waiting for his next student to arrive for a private music lesson.
Marks waited and waited despite the dire warnings that bad weather was approaching. He finally received the call from his young student’s parent; they would not be attending that evening’s session. The weather reports convinced them to stay home for the evening.
For Marks, the call came too late as the skies opened and rain began pouring down on the area. Hoping for a lull in the downpour but realizing that he may be stuck at the studio, he ran out to his vehicle to relocate it to higher ground alongside the building.
Now in his vehicle, Marks quickly discovered that he was in trouble as the water began rising at a rapid pace, trapping him inside the automobile. As floodwater began to overtake him, and his cell phone dying, he made a call to his girlfriend to say goodbye.
Frightened, he made a last-ditch effort by signaling SOS using his vehicle’s headlights. By some miracle, a passerby driving a raised Ford F150 spotted the distressed signal and pulled Marks out of the vehicle before driving him home, asking nothing in return.
The name of the driver is unknown, but he drove off into the darkness and deluge, likely to do it all over again that evening.
Indeed, when it was all over, some 13 hours and over 18” of rain later, areas of downtown Harlingen had endured up to waste-high flooding in what’s being called, “The Flood of the Century,” breaking known rainfall records in the Rio Grande Valley dating back that long or longer. Citizen weather watchers gauged rainfall closer to 24”.
The Arroyo Colorado crested at 30.44’, shattering the previous record set on July 21, 2010, of 24.22’. Thus far, six RGV deaths that night are believed to be weather-related, according to the National Weather Service Brownsville/RGV station (NWSB).
At least 1,000 buildings were flooded Valley-wide “with frontage roads along I-69E between San Benito and Sebastian, and between Harlingen and Mission generally flooded and closed through March 28, with up to four feet of water depth in the worst instances,” reads the NWSB report on the storm.
At least 1,000 vehicles sustained severe water damage and were abandoned, while “an unknown number of roads and bridges sustained structural damage due to the floodwaters, according to the NWSB.
Valley International Airport in Harlingen canceled all flights through March 31 due to flooded taxiways and other damage to its pavement.
By the weekend, state and local officials, including various mayors and county judges in the Rio Grande Valley, signed disaster declarations with Texas Governor Greg Abbott following at the state level, issuing a disaster declaration for Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties on March 29.
By Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was believed to be making a damage assessment to report back to Washington DC, which may result in a Federal Disaster Declaration. Despite reports, FEMA was not on hand at the Harlingen Convention Center Thursday morning, however, a resource center was established there for those impacted by the storm.
Severely impacted and still attempting to mitigate floodwater as of newspaper deadline Wednesday were low-lying areas, specifically those unincorporated sectors of the Valley such as Green Valley Farms, a colonia outside of the San Benito City Limits off of Iowa Gardens Rd and the vicinity of Adams off of 510, which was still experiencing waist-high floodwater in some parts.
Meanwhile, citizens created a movement for an RGV Flood Control District. Organizers are asking the public to visit Change.org to sign a petition.
Finally, in response to the flooding, the City of San Benito and the County are forgoing permit fees for repair work done on and around damaged property. “In response to recent flooding and pursuant to the emergency powers and authorities granted to the County, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. has announced building permit fees for flood-related home repair permit applications would be waived for a period of 14 days,” reads a press release issued by the County Judge’s office.
“A great amount of our residents are focusing their efforts on recovering from flood damage right now, and waiving permit fees for flood-related home repairs is a positive action we can take to alleviate the stress and reduce costs to our residents who were affected by the unexpected flood waters,” said Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño.
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