Latest local news, weather, high school sports in the Rio Grande Valley

Brian Gonzalez was looking forward to the day he could drive his own car.

The 15-year-old said dad was fixing a Ford Mustang for him, but last week during heavy thunderstorms, the mustang went under water.

"Well it flooded all the way up to the window,” the teen said, “and well, it pretty much broke it and (the mustang) broke down."

There is more rain forecasted for the Rio Grande Valley as Topical Storm Arlene gears-up for landfall south of the region.

Cameron County leaders are getting ready by placing pumps at the ditch located directly behind Gonzalez's home in Mariposa Ranch.

But even the teen knows that’s a temporary solution to a major problem.

"(They need to) fix the drainage or something because the water won’t go down," Gonzalez said.

Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Humberto Barrera said he knows what the issues are and this hurricane season the county is not taking their chances on prone-to-flood areas.

"We're analyzing everywhere that (possibly needs a pump),” Barrera said. “Of course we don't have a pump for every single area, so we may be having to move pumps here and there."

To further spread awareness about storm and hurricane preparedness, county leaders hosted a meeting Wednesday at Christ the King church, in which over 200 Brownsville residents participated.

"Communication to the public is extremely important,” Barrera said. “It's vital that they know what we're doing to help them, and it's vital that we get their input so that we can better serve our community.

During the meeting, Brownsville area residents got items like large plastic bags to store important paperwork and documents as well as toiletry kits.

Raymundo Barrera lives near a resaca just behind Cameron Park, and said he refuses to get surprised by flooding.

"I'm going to prepare because if the water from the resaca spills out, that's going to be a tremendous amount of flooding in my community."

Barrera said the county also prepared about 10,000 sand bags for residents to help protect their homes.