‘Dolly’ Could Turn Texas’ Rio Grande Valley Into Next New Orleans If Levees Don’t Hold

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, officials in the Rio Grande Valley warned the federal government that if a hurricane of even a portion of Katrina’s strength were to make landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast, the results for the Rio Grande Valley would be as bad or worse than Katrina.

Now, the Associated Press is reporting that Valley officials fear Tropical Storm Dolly could break levees that hold the Rio Grande River in its banks:

Officials urged residents to move away from the levees because if Dolly continues to follow the same path as 1967’s Hurricane Beulah, “the levees are not going to hold that much water,” said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos.

Forecasters say Dolly was expected to dump 15 to 20 inches of rain and bring coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal high tide levels.

In 2007, the Houston Chronicle projected that the potential number of affected and displaced citizens could be upward of two million:

Though the state has been spared a major storm since 1990, government agencies and outside critics have warned that heavy rains from a hurricane, or even a tropical storm, near the mouth of the Rio Grande could well cause catastrophic flooding.

In such an event, the river’s levees could be topped or toppled, existing flood plains overwhelmed. Towns and cities in the Rio Grande Valley that house more than 2 million people could be inundated. Thousands of people could be displaced, unknown numbers killed or injured. Property worth billions of dollars could be destroyed.

“The levees are too low to sustain a 100-year flood on either side of the river,” said Tyrus Fain, whose Rio Grande Institute is taking part in a federally funded study of ways to mitigate the impact of floods and other hazards on the border. “It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

The International Boundary and Water Commission — or IBWC, the joint U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees the Rio Grande where it serves as the border — has estimated that $125 million is needed to bolster the levees along the last 100-mile stretch of the river. But Congress has allocated less than $5 million annually for the task.

Of course, the Bush administration, instead of trying to help, tried to mix building a border wall with building a levee system (literally one on top of the other), which was ultimately scrapped.

Border-region Congressmen have been screaming for funding for levee repair for a decade. Of course, under the Republican Congress through 2006, nary a penny was spent. Appropriations have, however, increased for flood control since Democrats took over Congress. Nevertheless, even if a billion dollars had been funneled into the Valley, rebuilding infrastructure that the Republican Congress let crumble can’t be done overnight–hence the fact that two million people in the Rio Grande Valley right now are, literally, in danger of losing their property and possibly their lives.

If the levees do break, we’ll know what to expect. It has happened in the past and has been well-documented, by none other than the New York Times:

The levee system protecting the town of Mercedes from Rio Grande flood waters began crumbling early today, and within a few hours approximately half of the residence district of the town was under twenty inches of water.

That happened in 1922. Imagine what would happen now, with the region’s population having grown exponentially in the last nearly eight or so decades.

Not to throw on a tin foil hat or anything, but I did want to point out a comparison of The Valley and New Orleans from The Paper of South Texas before closing:

Consider the similarities [New Orleans and the Rio Grande Valley]: both areas are on the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast; both sit near sea level; both have large, poor minority populations: neither had been hit by devastating hurricanes since the 1960s and each was “overdue” for one; both have levee systems that cannot hold back floodwaters; both regions have a long history of political corruption; and the number one, scariest similarity between New Orleans and the Valley: both are Democratic strongholds under a Republican president.

Hopefully, it will not turn out this way. But, if the hurricane comes, the levees will not hold.

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