City officials work to mitigate floods in Harlingen

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Marchita Avenue in Harlingen is known as a bowl community.

What happens with a bowl neighborhood is that there is a drop in elevation, making it more prone to flooding.

Harlingen resident Esperanza Ortiz is taking out furniture she bought last time her place got flooded in 2019.

Now, she has to replace it all over again.

Ortiz says Thursday's storm flooded her home and says the water was knee high when she got rescued.

The 71-year-old Harlingen resident is one of the many older folks who live on Marchita Avenue.

"I still can't get over it…I've been feeling lots of pressure on my chest, I've had headaches, I feel like I can't concentrate," said Ortiz.

Ortiz' next door neighbor, Veronica Flores, is also taking out her belongings to dry out under the sun.

Flores says although her home sits on higher ground, it was also flooded.

"It went in at least above the ankle," said Flores. "We were hoping that the last time we had this, it would be taken care of."

Harlingen City Commissioner Daniel Lopez with District 2 says drainage flap gates were added in 2022, which are meant to stop backflow of water from getting into neighborhoods.

"What we are looking at now is how we can work more with District 5 to see whether we need to start pumping and put permanent pumps here on the canal banks and start pumping water over," Lopez said. "If the water starts getting too high, we need to start creating more detention ponds for them."