Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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Brownsville neighborhood tired of flooded streets
Posted: 09.12.2010 at 11:06 PM
Daisy Barrera

Daisy is a reporter for Action 4 News.

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People living at Calle Galaxia off Military Highway in Brownsville said they woke up to a flooded street on Saturday.

They said the city told them the water was coming from the Rio Grande River.

The sun was out Sunday, but the street still looked like thunder storms had just passed by the area.

People there said this neighborhood is prone to flooding during thunderstorms, but on Saturday, the water came out of nowhere and flooded the neighborhood.

"I just know that it's dirty and they say that it's coming from the rio and just stay away,” Mary Espinoza said. “It's kind of good that the house is (elevated) and (the water) doesn’t reach us, but if it gets any higher, we've got to go somewhere else. They've got to be able to get the plumbing or something - the drainage - and the city, they've got to do something about it."

People said they are upset because this was the second time in the past two weeks the street flooded.

It was hard for them to drive in and out of their driveways, let their children out to play, and all the stagnant water created a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

"This water is horrible and it being as dirty as it is, I don’t want my kids anywhere near it,” Espinoza said. “I’ve gotten bit so many times (by mosquitoes), I've had to use so much Off spray -all the time - I've gone through two bottles within the past three weeks that we've been here.”

People said they were surprised when the city told them the water was coming from the Rio Grande River.

Emilio Diaz said he is new to the neighborhood and if he had known of this issue and that little has been done to resolve it, he would've moved elsewhere.

“We're paying too much money for our home and on top of that the annual property taxes--- for this?” Diaz said. “It's not fair. Frankly I'm very upset. I don't think (the city) would like for us to stop paying our taxes - we don't like living like this."

More than an explanation the residents said they want the problem fixed whether the water is coming from the river or somewhere else.

Mayor Pat Ahumada said the water is not coming from the Rio Grande.

He said the city is aware of the flooding in the area, but it’s just a low-lying area and takes longer to dry-out.

Ahumada said the city pumps-out water from the neighborhood whenever necessary and maintains the drainage there clean.

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