June Flood of 2019

Deluge brings historic rainfall totals to Valley

by Tony Vindell/LFN

Rain, wind and hail pounded some areas of the Rio Grande Valley last week, bringing back memories of the Great June Flood of 2018.

Between 11 to 12 inches of rain fell west of La Feria/Harlingen, the National Weather Service office in Brownsville reported.

In Willacy County, close to 9 inches of rain fell in the Raymondville area and more than a foot of precipitation descended over Town of Sebastian where flooding was widespread.

Downtown Raymondville was still shut down on Wednesday and many roads were still closed two days after the deluge.

In La Feria, several streets were closed, city hall was shut down for half of the day Tuesday and the city’s recreation center where about 100 youngsters have been attending Summer Camp 2019 was also forced to shut down.

Alfonso Rodriguez, the public works director for the city of La Feria, said parts of the city could not handle so much rain so fast.

Close to 40 people sought shelter at the recreation center since late Monday night and were there until Wednesday of last week.

In some areas of Primera, Santa Rosa, Combes and Harlingen, the deluge flooded streets and homes and first responders assisted residents to get out of some neighborhoods.

This month’s rainfall brought memories of the June 2018 flood when up to 14 inches of rain fell in many places of the Rio Grande Valley, La Feria and Los Fresnos areas. According to Captain James Dunks from the Parks & Wildlife office in Brownsville, game wardens with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department made 137 water rescues in Cameron and Hidalgo counties on Tuesday and Wednesday.