If any of you have friends or family in the Southern New Mexico/West Texas/El Paso area, you might want to check on them. We have received more rain in one day than in our usual annual rainfall. Some estimates put it as high as 5–6″. People have had their homes destroyed, have been rescued from rooftops, and have had roads destroyed. They have evacuated the towns of Vinton, Texas and Anapra, Mexico and are preparing to evacuate the Lower Valley in case the Rio Grande overflows. So far there has been only one death - a worker who was hit by a truck. The problem here is that there is a less than average drainage system due to our low annual rainfall, and there is no place for the water to flow. I know that this event (we now look like one of those places after a hurricane) is not being carried on national news so if you can let people know, it would help.
It makes me wonder how much difference it would make if most of us in the southwest had a rainwater harvesting system for our homes to keep at least some of that water from running downhill. It doesn’t take a lot of rain to get several 55 gal drums filled up just from roof runoff from one standard house. And think of all that concrete in your driveway that could be collecting water in a tarp.
I’m not familiar with rainwater harvesting systems so I don’t know if they would have been effective in this crisis or not. I do know that because El Paso is dissected by a mountain range, one of the dangers of this recent rainfall was the water gushing down the mountain into streets built over arroyos (never a good idea, but tell that to developers). In one instance, the rushing water sliced through a Blockbuster and practically demolished a small trailer park that had been in that area for decades.
I know that no one is reading this thread so I’m only writing to ease my own frustration and stress. While everyone is talking hypothetically about preparing for a potential crisis, I am living through one right now. We’ve endured two days of pounding rain in an area that can’t support much rainfall, because there is no place to drain. Since midnight on Tuesday morning, my husband has been working tirelessly to ensure that our home is safe. Each time the rain stops, he climbs on top of the roof to fix leaks or he tries to drain our cess pools or he creates a funnel so that our small back patio will drain. We have been very lucky compared to others, many of whom have lost their homes or all their possessions. My neighbor had to move her horses to a nearby town that was slightly drier, because in one of her stalls, the water was up to the horse’s belly. Our main concern now is that the dam which protects our neighborhood doesn’t overflow. It it does, all the homes in this area will flood. I have emergency bags packed for myself and my youngest son - his food, diapers, and oxygen tanks - in case we have to move to higher ground. I’ve been very grateful that I was prepping, because we have dipped into a few of our stores (plastic plates and cups since we can’t run the water in our home). And when we can get to one of the shelters, we’re going to donate water from our preps for the people who had to leave their homes. Through the good offices of our representatives, the Governor has declared the county to be a disaster area and promises help in rebuilding. I know that this may seem a minor event when compared to the wars in Iraq, Lebanon and Israel, and we certainly haven’t experienced the fatalities that have been occurring because of the heat wave (and I certainly feel sympathy for people enduring those temperatures), but it has been a hardship for the two million people living in two states and two countries out here. So, frustration and stress - no longer hypothetical.
Sorry for your bad luck and distress History---Hope all goes well!
History Lover - Having your home and wellbeing jeopardized because of flooding is no minor hardship. We endured a similar threat in June - my town is embraced by 2 rivers. Many of my neighbors lost their homes with severe flooding, and we collectively held our breath hoping the dams would hold. Lost bridges, dams cracked, but held. I hope your dam holds. You sound like you are holding up well, and your circumstances are surely very scarey right now. Good luck. Please update re your safety.
History Lover..you will be in my prayers tonight. I hope the rain stops soon.
It’s such a shame, because most of the year we urgently need rainfall. If only we could catch it and store it when it comes. We just get it all it once, if at all (that’s why it’s called “the monsoon”, even though often some of the state stays dry the whole summer). My part of town has gotten 3 good storms of about 1/2 in each, but other areas a few miles south have had flooding problems. In a few weeks, we’ll be back to being dry again.
History Lover,
I have an aunt in Victoria, and a cousin that owns land (and some structures) on the Guadalupe River north of Victoria. That is the closest kin that I have to San Antonio. I suspect the Guadalupe is swelling its banks or flooding.
I’ve been to SA a few times, and I can see it having a terrible time dealing with flood waters. I wish some of that water was up here in Oklahoma and then we would all get some relief. Is there flooding in the Port Lavaca area? I’ve got lots of kin there and my folks are driving down there Sunday or Monday. They need to put some hurricane straps on a new cabin they have just built and do some other work to tighten things down. Let us all hope (and pray) that if tropical storm Chris turns into a hurricane it will not head for the southern coast of Texas. That would cause a catastrophe of incredible proportions for San Antonio area, not to mention the coast.
Good luck, and keep us posted if you can.
The flooding is only in El Paso as far as I know, not San Antonio. If there’s anything going on right now in SA, I haven’t heard about it. Right now the rains have stopped or been intermittent in different parts of town, but we have a new problem. Two dams in Juarez, Mexico just across the border are in danger of overflowing. If they do they will overflow and flood areas in Juarez and downtown El Paso. They are evacuating people in Chihuahuita, which is an old, historic and very poor part of downtown El Paso by city and school buses. We’re in a wait and see situation. Thanks for all your kind words.
Boy, do I feel silly. For some reason my mind took El Paso and turned it into San Antonio. I do know the difference, except I have never been to El Paso.
Still, good luck and I hope all goes well.
I am close to El Paso (150 miles or so). I get their emergency weather updates; --- by the way it is a great service for weather and even BF alerts:
http://www.emergencyemail.org/
anyway- the rains are still going and the warnings now read:
“DUE TO EXCESSIVE RAINS OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS OVER THE REGION. DAM STRUCTURES IN JUAREZ MAY BE COMPROMISED. TWO DAMS ARE REPORTED AS OVERFLOWING & POSSIBLY IN DANGER OF BREAKING. SHOULD THIS OCCUR.THE RESULT WOULD BE FLOODING ALONG THE RIO GRANDE IN EL PASO.”
History Lover, I am so sad to hear of the flooding. I’m an El Pasoan (Coronado HS, Class of ‘75) You are in my thoughts and prayers
DennisC - Thanks for the link. Where are you? Are you in Texas or New Mexico?
Olymom - My husband graduated from Coronado in 1967. Just a hint - he was the editor of the newspaper that year so you can check him out. Two of our kids graduated from Coronado and one from the new school - Franklin.
Okieman - Don’t worry about it. My daughter is in Austin, and she has friends in San Antonio. If something were happening there, she would let me know. And I would let you know.
We’re also watching the Juarez television stations to monitor the news. My husband translates for me. Apparently people over there are just as worried about being evacuated as those in El Paso so they called in the Mexican Army again. There are hundreds of people in the Convention Center, various schools and the Tigua Indian Community Center. We are so incredibly fortunate. We live in an old part of town that is zoned for horses so people live on long lots (from one to four acres) that extend to the irrigation canal. Our home was the original Catholic Church in this neighborhood and built before the canal was built and later subdivided. We are the only home on the back of one of these lots (1/10 mile from the road)and are surrounded by empty pastures on three sides. Although the ground is soaked, at least the area around us is soaking up the rain, and we have not had a drop in our house except for a few roof leaks. I wish I could say the same for our neighbors. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for your concern.
History Lover – at 10:26
I moved from Tx about 12 years ago to escape the heat. I don’t want to tell exactly where I am to everyone on the net- but for you- You know where all the people from El Paso go to the mountains to play in the snow and go tubbing and where the observatories are. That’s the place -the little town up the hill from Alamogordo at 9000 feet - but I live out a ways in the forest.
We have had about 8 or 9 inches of rain in the last week or so here. But everything is “down hill from here”.
Is the flooding bad on the N side of town- by the airport. I was told the interstate to Cruces is blocked but not the road to Alamogordo- right?? I will have to be going to the airport to pick up my German foreign exchange student in a week or so.
I wish you well and I hope your preps were good for this emergency as well.
The emergency email system is a great system. It gives the best snow and wind warnings for the area and it does it by county. The thing for me is that it gives the snow warnings based on elevation- which is more important here than position.
Are you above or below the Mex. dam? Again, good luck and I hope the dam holds.
DennisC - I know where you are, and I love that place. Thanks for the tip on that website. We have logged on, and it is a great source of information. My husband is a weather geek who can forecast fronts better than most meteorologists, and he will be checking this website religiuosly. As to the airport, everything is okay there although there was damage in the northeast. Also we are not threatened by either of the Mexican dams (there is one threatening downtown El Paso and Juarez and another threatening Sunland Park and Anapra). But we do have a dam in our area, and my husband tells me that it still has plenty of room before it becomes a problem. So if the rains slow down, we should be safe.
Olymom - Do you have family here? If so, my best wishes to them. Everyone here is pulling together, neighbors helping neighbors, and people donating to those who had to be evacuated. You would be proud.
Lisa in Southern Maine - I am so sorry to hear about the flooding in your area. The strange thing is, I don’t remember seeing anything on the national news. Were there any stories? I wish they would be more vigilant in reporting these events, because people now have friends and family all over the United States and it would help if we knew what was happening elsewhere. I called a friend in Washington, D.C. to let her know what was happening so she could check on her mother. She knew nothing about the flooding.
History lover- if DH likes weather be sure he knows about the weather underground. It is a system of amature stations.
for eample see this one:
Do people need a “shelter” to go to? The church here was given an old church building last month that is empty now and I have been trying to “set the wheels in motion” to allow it to be used as a community emergency shelter for things like this and forest fires. It would just be cots in an auditorium and a restroom- but it might help. I was seeing if we could stock it with some simple supplies. If there is a need, you can email via the address under my profile.
History Lover - Yes, there was a lot of new coverage, both local and national. York county Maine, Southern NH., and Essex county Massachusetts were heavily damaged. State of emergency, FEMA, etc…My boys had no school for a week because of the evacuations. Sad thing is, many people who had lived in their homes for decades and always had dry cellars so no flood insurance took big losses. And FEMA was here, had many offices set up temporarily for residents to do damage reporting. I’m hearing a LOT of stories of no help, of people who took whole house loss and can’t get any assistance through red tape. At least in my town, FEMA is a dirty word. My little family fared incredibly well. I lost a couple of work days, bridge and road damage had me trapped, but house stayed dry. 1/2 mile up the road, whole street gone with waist-high water. One house had lower floor windows broken by river surge and you could see white water rushing in the back of the house and out the front. Neighbors above-ground pool still standing was covered by the floodwater, 5 feet. I saw state of emerg. update on news last night about your area, with notice of dam threat and 2000 evacuations. I read in your 10:26 post that you are still holding dry. I pray that continues for you and that all stay safe. We had only one death that I know of, a man swept out of his car in Ipswich Mass by a sudden surge of the Ipswich river. Things could have been so much worse. But people were short on water, store shelves cleared in no time. Wells and town water supply undrinkable for nearly 2 weeks. We were very grateful for our water preps, and some of out neighbors were too!
History Lover
FOX NEWS was reporting on El Paso this morning. Reported same info as Lisa gave above. The weather channels however provided very little info. They are focusing on the start of Monsoon season in Arizona. Hope that doesn’t blow in your way too.
Move your preps upstairs. Several people in Northern Virginia lost their preps when we had floods a few weeks ago. FEMA recently denied assistance to whole neighborhoods that looked like they got hit by a hurricane like the two that hit New Orleans, TX, LA, MS and AL. FEMA is a dirty word here too.
Hope you come through this OK.
smitty - Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately we do not have an upstairs but we have moved certain valuables to a safer place (photographs, etc).
Lisa - You came through an extraordinary event. I am so sorry for your neighbors, because so many of mine are going through the same thing. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of FEMA, but the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and local agencies are working tirelessly. We’re donating our water supplies (heck we can always stock up again) for the shelters.
DennisC - You are so wonderful to think of the people here. Actually I believe there are enough shelters. Strangely some parts of town were left totally unscathed while others received a ton of water. I think it was the luck of the draw considering where your house was built. At least at this point I don’t think they need anything. But if you see anything different on the news (that they need to remove people) please contact Mayor Cook at El Paso City Hall.
I will not be able to post for awhile, because I have to take care of a family emergency. We decided that I was the one to do it, because my husband is needed here. But I will be back on Monday. (Why is it that crises come in multiples so that you feel you are living in a soap opera? One crisis at a time I always say!)
If you know of anyone who needs information about the El Paso/Las Cruces/Juarez conditions, the Weather Channel is now showing better coverage. And CNN also has some coverage. Thanks everybody and have a great and dry weekend.
Take good care! I’m a native El Pasoan (Burges, Class of ‘71) and still have family in town. Plus, we were flooded out of our home when I was a young child and I well remember the experience. Blessings to all. So many in the parts that are flooding have so little anyway, this is simply heart breaking, especially given developers built where they should NEVER have done so in some cases and now, individuals are paying the price for their avarice. Hugs to all ….be safe!
History Lover, I’ve got some cousins on the east side and a friend who teaches at UTEP but most others are gone now. We used to live on Emory Road in the Upper Valley and I can see how drainage off Mt. Franklin could be a problem there (to Sunland Park). Hope today is better.
History Lover, I’m sorry to see El Paso is getting hammered again today. My thoughts are with you.
Thanks to everyone and to all you former El Pasoans - Howdy and Buenos Dias! I think (fingers crossed) that the heavy rains have stopped. They are giving damage estimates at $250 million. And El Paso had only one fatality - a street worker hit by a truck. We’re still grieving over him. So many people lost property, cars, and homes that we feel lucky that all we have to do is some repair to our cess pools.
I hope that this event will encourage more people to prepare for emergencies. I’m continuing to talk to my relatives and friends about this. Although I think that now I will add a raft and maybe an ARK to my preps!
I’m in the SA area and we got some (desperately needed)rain yesterday but beyond that nothing’s going on here, weather-wise.
We’ve read and heard about that dam and the fears that it might not hold but it didn’t really register until I read your words and realize you’re close to the dam. I hope you’ll check in now and then to let us know how you and yours are doing.
Texas Rose - Hi neighbor. My family is doing fine, but the latest news report says 300 homes were completely destroyed and another 1,515 suffered water damage. The number of cars destroyed is still unknown, and the amount of infrastructure damage is in the several millions. It’s heartbreaking.
Lisa in Southern Maine - You were so dead on. FEMA came yesterday and left without promising any help. Apparently if your home is only damaged by 3 1/2 feet of water compared to 4 feet of water, it doesn’t qualify for aid. Well, I guess they need that money for more IPods. Doesn’t bode well for hope in a post-Avian Flu Pandemic, does it?
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