Hidalgo County Commissioner David Fuentes looks over a map of his Precinct 1 and highlights the multiple drainage projects he has overseen in the Mercedes area.

Over the last six years, Fuentes has utilized $20 million-plus of a $190 million county bond issue to address the chronic flooding and related drainage issues that have plagued the city for years. The county commissioner notes that Mercedes lacks a comprehensive drainage system in the manner larger cities with more resources usually have. Still, the city has worked mightily in recent years to make local improvements in connecting streets and flood-prone areas to the county’s drainage systems.

“We know where it floods,” Fuentes said in his Weslaco office. “The projects we’ve implemented allows for massive amounts of water to move so we don’t have standing water backing up into people’s homes.”

Just how much standing water a sudden downpour can produce was recently pointed out by City Commissioner Ruben Saldana in answering a constituent question on his Facebook page. Six inches of rain falling over an area of less than half-a-square mile would result in over 10 million gallons of water falling on the ground, the commissioner said. Some will naturally drain off, but a huge share of it needs to be moved and diverted to the sort of large detention ponds the city and county have collaborated on to hold flood waters.

“Without a detention pond, then streets, lots, and homes become the places where that water will stand until it drains,” Saldana said.

Behind The Scenes Work

The city has recently used $3 million in state funds from the General Land Office for three stormwater drainage projects.

One of those projects includes an expanded detention pond near the FEMA Safety Dome on North Vermont Avenue. Improved piping will move rainwater more quickly and efficiently. Excavation work will produce a 26-acre-foot detention pond near the dome and north of the FedEx facility that will alleviate flooding in the North Vermont area.

It’s all part of the behind-the-scenes work city and county officials are engaged in to alleviate perennial flooding issues. Major flooding events with 15-inch rainfalls in successive Junes of 2017 and 2018 produced catastrophic damage in Mercedes residential areas. Then similar rainfall totals came from Hurricane Hanna in 2020. The latter timeframe coincided with county Commissioner Fuentes putting the county bond funds into action.

One key piece was improving what is called the Anaquitas Drainage Structure. It’s located off Mile 1 East, south of 10^th Street. The Anaquitas is of the city’s major drainage outlets and is vital to moving floodwaters from downtown-area neighborhoods. Fuentes worked closely with city officials to significantly upgrade the Anaquitas system. The proof of improvements making a difference has become evident with recent heavy rain events, he said.

“We saw with the last rainfall event that the city (Mercedes) did not receive many reports of flooding,” Fuentes said. “Widening ditches, making infrastructure improvements and building more detention ponds creates massive changes in moving water.”

Hiking & Biking

A separate quality-of-life issue that Fuentes is working with the city of Mercedes involves linking an emerging hike-and-bike trail in Weslaco to its neighboring city.

Fuentes has led efforts in recent years to build a trail from Weslaco-to-Alamo in utilizing COVID-era federal funds. The trail has taken shape with much of the Mid-Valley area trail now completed. A last key component would be extending it to Mercedes. The funding from federal sources for the Weslaco-area trail has been spent, so Mercedes officials would need to secure state and private foundation grants for the Mercedes portion of the Mid-Valley trail.

Preliminary studies and analysis have been done on a Mercedes hike-and-bike trail. It would likely be located along the Rio Grande Valley floodway that runs adjacent to Mercedes and northward to the FEMA Dome area and the existing circular walking trail there. Fuentes and his staff have expressed their support for the proposed Mercedes stretch of the Mid-Valley trail.

“You see what’s happening so far with families and friends walking together,” the county commissioner said of the trail that has been completed thus far. “It creates bonds and builds a stronger community.”

- Ric Cavazos

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