Drought disaster declared in Hidalgo County

EDINBURG, Texas – Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez has issued a disaster declaration due to the ongoing drought. 

The declaration goes into effect immediately and lasts for seven days though Hidalgo County Commissioners Court may vote to extend the declaration when it meets next Tuesday, April 16.

“We have been working diligently to assess the scope of the problem and how it is affecting the residents of Hidalgo County. This declaration is the first step in securing statewide aid to help us through what is predicted to be another dry summer,” said Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez.

Cortez’s declaration activates the county’s emergency management plan and allows Hidalgo County to begin to tap into statewide funding to mitigate any drought related problems, including an ongoing threat of wildfire.

The disaster declaration comes one month after Texas Governor Greg Abbott renewed his own disaster declaration on March 17, 2024 for several counties throughout Texas. Governor Abbott issued his initial disaster declaration in April of 2018 and has renewed it every six months since then. 

Here is the declaration:

WHEREAS, as of the 9th day of April 2024 the County of Hidalgo has suffered a prolonged period of exceptional drought conditions that pose a threat of imminent disaster;

WHEREAS, significantly low rainfall and prolonged dry conditions continue to increase the threat of wildfires across portions of the County; and

WHEREAS, these drought conditions pose an imminent and continuous threat of widespread or severe damage, injury or loss of life or property and to public health, municipal water supplies, and agriculture production; and

WHEREAS, the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott issued a disaster proclamation on July 8, 2022 and amended and renewed that declaration most recently on March 17, 2024, certifying the exceptional drought conditions throughout the state of Texas; and

WHEREAS, the Texas Division of Emergency Management has confirmed that those same drought conditions continue to exist in Hidalgo County and other counties in Texas; and WHEREAS, the statewide incident identified as 22-0019 Texas Statewide Drought reflects the impact and damages sustained as a result of the current and existing conditions on the rest of the State, to include Hidalgo County, Texas; and

WHEREAS, Section §418.108 (a) of the Texas Government Code provides that the presiding officer of the governing body of a political subdivision may declare a state of local disaster;

NOW, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Judge of the County of Hidalgo

1.   That a state of disaster is declared for the County of Hidalgo, Texas; pursuant to §418.08(a) and (b) of the Texas Government Code.
2.   Pursuant to $418.018(c) of the Texas Government Code, this declaration of a local state of disaster shall be given prompt and general publicity and shall be filed promptly with the County Clerk.
3.   Pursuant to §418.018d) of the Texas Government Code, this declaration of the local state of disaster activates the County emergency management plan.
4. That this proclamation shall take effect immediately from and after its issuance. 

ORDERED this 9th day of April, 2024. 

Richard F. Cortez, Hidalgo County Judge

Attest: Arturo Guajardo, Jr., County Clerk.

Letter to Abbott

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The Rio Grande Valley legislative delegation sent a letter to Gov. Abbott in late March requesting urgent assistance in addressing the “water crisis” faced by the region. The letter was penned by state Rep. Terry Canales.

In his letter, Valley lawmakers cited the imminent closure of the Rio Grande Valley’s sugar mill due to water supply issues. They also highlighted a planned moratorium by the City of Mission on residential development exceeding five acres. Mission Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza said this is due concerns over water supply.

“The Rio Grande Valley cannot continue to rely on luck to ensure there is enough water for our region’s farmers and residents. The time to act is now,” Canales said.

“Our area’s only path forward is greater collaboration on a regional approach to securing new water sources. This will require concerted effort and coordination among irrigation districts, water providers, and area leaders, and I believe that with the Governor’s support, we can work together to pave the way for a sustainable and secure water future for our region.”

Click here to read the letter.

La Niña effect

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Dr. Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist in the surface water division at the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) says that at the end of February, statewide storage in water supply reservoirs was at 73.5 percent of capacity, which is about ten percentage points below normal for the time of year. 

Asked what it would take for all the river basins in Texas to recover, Wentzel said:

Dr. Mark Wentzel. (Photo credit: KXAN)

“This winter, we were in an El Niño climate pattern, which typically sets up atmospheric circulation for wetter than normal conditions for Texas. This meant good things for drought recovery in East Texas, but recovery hasn’t made it past the Brazos River basin and farther southwest in the state. Now we’re coming out of El Niño conditions, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts we may transition to a La Niña pattern this summer.  

“La Niña sets up the atmosphere to be better suited for tropical storm and hurricane development in the Atlantic Ocean and tends to allow those storms to make it into the Gulf of Mexico, improving Texas’ chances of getting moisture from storms. These storms or their remnants would be helpful particularly for the Rio Grande River and South Texas. Multiple smaller events over time would be safer in terms of storm damage, but they don’t provide quick relief like a single larger tropical storm remnant. The good news is that La Niña or neutral conditions would make those tropical storm remnants more likely.”

Asked how much rainfall would it take to get reservoir storage capacity back to a normal level, Wentzel said:

“One good tropical storm that lands in exactly the right place could be enough to fill up a reservoir. We saw that in 2010 with remnants of Hurricane Alex, which helped the Rio Grande Valley in terms of water supply during the 2011-2014 drought. 

“If a system moves relatively quickly and doesn’t drop a lot of rainfall or moves from north to south over a watershed instead of east to west so that we don’t get as much rainfall in the area upstream of reservoirs, then it can take more than one storm. 

“Big reservoirs and water supply systems in West and South Texas are set up to take advantage of these events that don’t necessarily happen every year. They capture water and store it for use over multiple years.”

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