Mission land swap to ease city flooding

MISSION, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Double power to tackle flooding in the City of Mission.

Both the city and Mission Independent School District strategized to make sure Mission families encounter fewer flooding problems on their way to school.

Mission Mayor Norie Garza said what started as a conversation over breakfast with the school district's board president, Iris Iglesia, is now a tangible project to ease flooding in the city.

"We're very excited about it," said Garza. "It is going to help our residents, our students, because they are going to be able to get to school on time without the dangers of flood situations."

The city plans to place two water detention ponds at two elementary schools: Bryan and Castro elementary. A detention pond is meant to capture and slow stormwater runoff, hence easing the flooding.

Meanwhile, assistant city manager Juan Pablo Terrazas said this will benefit people whose homes tend to flood near these schools.

"There's a lot of the streets there that flood," said Terrazas. "The water recedes very fast, but still our kids can't walk to school during those storms or weather days. We are trying to mitigate those flooding areas so that our citizens have a piece of mind and not getting water in their living rooms."

In return, the city is swapping some land of its own, so that the district can use it for things like additional parking near Bryan Elementary.

"I guess maybe that was an ah- ha moment," said Garza. "You need this, and I need that, so let's get it done. It was one of those things, it was a great situation and I'm so happy we did that