The arrival of the 2008 hurricane season's biggest storm to date has South Texas residents and federal and local government officials talking about the construction of a border wall for a new reason: the security and stability of border towns during hurricane season.
In the wake of Hurricane Dolly last week, Eagle Pass Mayor and Texas Border Coalition Chairman Chad Foster said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security needs to halt construction of the wall and instead concentrate on rebuilding levees in the Rio Grande Valley.
Homeland Security's plan to erect a 14-mile "movable" fence made of concrete barriers and steel fencing along a portion of the South Texas border were made public in mid-July.
The plans are pending approval by the International Boundary and Water Commission, made up of U.S. and Mexican officials who monitor border conditions. The plan calls for the construction of the fence in Rio Grande City, Roma and Los Ebanos.
The commission will need to determine the requirements and work with Homeland Security officials to decide whether the fence can be removed in case of a hurricane, said commission spokeswoman Sally Spener.
Foster said authorities would need to move the fence to facilitate the evacuation of human beings, livestock and wildlife before a hurricane moves in.
"That doesn't sound very practical, but it does sound consistent to [Homeland Security]," Foster said.
Border levee construction in the hard-hit Hidalgo County, which suffered extensive damage during the Category 2 hurricane, resumed Sunday after flooding subsided, said Godfrey Garza Jr., district manager for Hidalgo County Drainage District No.1.
The purpose of levee reconstruction in Hidalgo is twofold: to prevent flooding from the Rio Grande River and to act as a barrier to secure the U.S. border.
Under the Secure Fence Act of 2006, Homeland Security called for the construction of 22 miles of vehicle and pedestrian barrier in Hidalgo County, according to the Hidalgo County Web site. Opposed to a border fence, the county worked to convince the federal government to reconstruct the existing weak levees to serve as an alternative barrier to an actual fence.
Homeland Security accepted the deal and the county and department finalized a levee reconstruction agreement in which the federal government will finance 65 percent of the project, according to the county's Web site.
Garza said the reconstruction project clears the flood plan set forth by the International Boundary and Water Commission.
He said the county is working on the face of the levees and is not breaking them down.
In case of an incoming flood, he said the county is given a 72-hour notice to rebuild the levees to pre-reconstruction conditions. The county followed this procedure in preparation for Dolly and then closed the area for a couple days, he said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said there is a 65 percent chance of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season in 2008.
Troy Kimmel, senior lecturer in UT's Department of Geography and the Environment and chief meteorologist for Clear Channel in Austin, said activity in the Atlantic Basin increases during the middle and latter part of August and into September, which is the most active month for tropical cyclones.
Be the first to comment on this article!