08 Jul Draining Mercedes

On Tuesday morning, U.S. congressman, Vicente Gonzalez (D-Brownsville) delivered $850,000 (he literally presented city leaders with a check) to the Mercedes municipal government to improve the city’s stormwater drainage system.

More specifically, the money will be directed towards updating storm lines in 3 areas of the city that experience significant flooding: near South Vermont Avenue and South Washington Avenue, near Collier Park as well as the area near Third Street and Colorado Avenue.

Gonzalez is currently focusing on flooding and drainage problems in small communities in his district, highlighted by another recent funding project in Combes in which he delivered another $850,000 to restore eight sewer lift stations in the area. He plans to continue doing the same across towns in Willacy County as well as the Harlingen and Brownsville areas.

In a quote to the McAllen Monitor, Gonzalez iterated “I’m hyper-focused on how to address flooding issues and assure that every time that we have a major storm, that we’re now all underwater and it doesn’t cost, it doesn’t cost us hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars to address.” Pockets of the Rio Grande Valley are particularly susceptible to flash flooding especially during large storms and many of us have seen streets and neighborhoods become submerged within minutes of rainfall.

Kudos to Rep. Gonzalez for securing this funding and we hope he can continue to direct more funds to our local communities.