Runoff from Dolly keeps area neighborhoods flooded

PRIMERA - The price of growth and expansion could be a costly one.

Just ask some residents of subdivision here.

Richmond Hills Estates I and II are located on the north side of Wilson Road just west of Stuart Place Road and east of Rodriguez Elementary School.

As of Saturday evening, some areas of the neighborhood still remained under about 4 feet of water.

Ernest Silva owns both properties and built his home in Richmond Estates II.

Silva said the expansion of Stuart Place Road and Expressway 83 just south of the area might have contributed to the flooding.

Silva owns four other properties in Harlingen and South Padre Island and said Richmond Estates I and II received the most damage.

Silva said runoff from the expressway and Stuart Place Road drains into the same ditch.

"We're still holding water because we have to wait until everyone else drains," Silva said. "That's why Palm Valley is flooded too. And there's an area on Bass Boulevard also. Sure we took a lot of rain, but it doesn't help that the drainage system is inadequate."

Stuart Place Road near Wilson Road also remained under water as of Saturday evening. And parts of Wilson Road in the same vicinity also was still flooded Saturday.

A field between Richmond Hills Estates and Rodriguez Elementary also drains into the neighborhood, which doesn't help matters.

"I think the cities of Primera, Palm Valley, Harlingen and the county need to get together and see what they can do," Silva said. "But that's part of life. We'll just rebuild for next and that's all we can do. TxDot should also get involved and improve the ditch system along with the roads. Expansion is nice. But more pavement means more runoff."

Jaime Guajardo's home had about 6 inches of water inside. Silva's neighbor was upset Saturday by what he called a lack of effort by the city of Primera to pump water out of the neighborhood.

Other neighbors spent the day cleaning their garages or yards of debris that had floated onto their property.

It was all they could do as they remained stranded in their homes by the floodwaters.

Silva was forced to evacuate his home Wednesday evening after several inches of water had already made its way inside the house.

Silva is now renting an apartment for the next three months while his home is repaired.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's water in the house and we lost some furniture, but none of that matters," Silva said. "No one drowned, got hurt or got swept away by the water. The material things are the least of our worries. We were very blessed to get away."