Residents call for regional approach to flooding

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — It's been nearly two weeks since the Valley was hit by severe flooding, and some neighborhoods are still feeling the effects.

Some area residents are saying it's time to change how the Valley deals with flooding issues by taking a regional approach to the problem.

Last week, J.V. Garcia started an online petition with the hopes of establishing a Rio Grande Valley Flood Control District.

Garcia said he's looking to handle the flood crisis "once and for all."

“There are people that are still flooded. This was a catastrophic flood, and it will happen again,” Garcia said.

He's been an advocate for change in water projects for years.

Garcia founded the RGV Coalition of Drainage Advocates (CODA) last week, in response to the flooding.

"We decided to take our advocacy group region-wide and are organizing with other drainage advocates across the Valley," Garcia said.

His vision for the district would create one entity integrating "piecemeal" drainage districts and municipal drainage initiatives.

The group has already drafted legislation and a policy brief with hopes that lawmakers in Austin can take up the matter during the current legislative session.

“We’re trying to do as much as we can as advocates to write as much as we can for them, let them edit it, run it through the process of how a legislative bill is created,” Garcia said.

Some La Feria residents whose homes and businesses flooded said they support CODA's goal.

Carmen Rivera and her husband had to leave their home almost two weeks ago and have been unable to return.

Rivera said this isn't the first time their home has been affected by flooding.

“2019 it flooded, like a lot inside our home, and we had to reconstruct our home. But this year it didn’t go in, because we had to elevate our home quite a bit,” Rivera said.

The residence may not have been damaged, but the home itself is "inaccessible."

Rivera would like to see more done to clear drainage ditches so that when it rains, the water has somewhere to go.

She said she hardly ever sees crews working in the rural area near her home.

"They stop right there, at the beginning of our road. I think they've forgotten this area. We're the only ones that live in this area, but we're still important," Rivera said.

La Feria resident Rosalinda Taguilas says her land and the business she runs from her property suffered severe flooding.

Like Rivera, her land is also still covered in water.

Taguilas said she's lived there her whole life and that she and other long-time residents can't just pick up and leave their homes.

She supports the petition and hopes politicians can put aside their differences to help their constituents.

“I’m hoping that they will all get under one umbrella and come to an agreement instead of finger-pointing. Blaming this, it’s not my job, it’s out of my jurisdiction. I got tired of that. We all got tired. The entire community got tired of it. So, we definitely need something different,” Taguilas said.

Garcia said if everything works the way he hopes, and the District is approved, it would be one of the top five districts in the state.