HIDALGO COUNTY -- "More than $343 million in federal appropriations, stimulus money and local tax payer funds have been spent or is pending to be spent to repair and reconstruct 153 miles of river and internal levees in Hidalgo County."
Hidalgo county residents in certain areas may not need or be forced to buy mandatory
"We’re at about 99 percent completion on the levee segments themselves that we've partnered directly with the International Boundary and Water Commission; we are about 98.5 percent completion on the levees that we've partnered with the Department of Homeland Security."
And that's the result of more than $340 million dollars in levee improvements and the construction of several miles of levee-wall infrastructure which also allows border patrol agents to have better roads to protect the country
"With the levees constructed and the caliche roads on top and the bottom, it gives the Border Patrol the ability to move quicker through the areas to be able to address any needs that they may see in our perimeters...."
Based on an on economic impact analysis, the investments in the levee system in Hidalgo County over the past year and in the next year will create 49-hundred jobs, create $229 million in value added, and generate a total economic output of $508 million
"We would've probably been under mandatory flood insurance requirements already, and we would've been spending between $40 to $60 million dollars a year in flood insurance for the areas that would be impacted which is basically from Expressway 83 south all the way to the river."
Prior to these improvements, the levees not only posed a threat to life and property, but Hidalgo County’s booming economy could potentially lose momentum
"Damages I think the analysis done by UTPA was in the billions of dollars for the area...."
Two birds with one stone.... Hidalgo county residents and businesses will avoid flood insurance requirements and the levee-wall does not infringe on private property or on the local environment
"Never before in history has Hidalgo County been the recipient of so many federal funds.
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