MONTE ALTO, Texas - Hidalgo County Commissioner David Fuentes says if federal money sent to the Rio Grande Valley to repair homes after a flooding event is not claimed, it should be made available for flood mitigation work.
“We're not going to minimize that people need assistance when they encounter or endure catastrophic flooding. That's not what we're saying. But what we found was, 70% of that mitigation money (that was supposed to be spent) on rebuilding wasn't used. It was returned back to HUD, it was given back to the federal government as unused grant monies,” Fuentes said.
"And what we were arguing was, don't send it back, repurpose it and award mitigation projects that would help in preventing loss. So we weren’t trying to take money away from people. What we were trying to do is minimize the amount of money that was being sent back to the federal government as unused grant monies and saying, instead of sending it back, allow us to apply for programs that we think will help the affected area so that we don't go through flooding.”
Fuentes made his comments in an interview with Ron Whitlock Reports. He gave the interview at the end of a ribbon cutting ceremony held in Monte Alto to celebrate the Main Floodwater Channel Expansion Project.
The Main Floodwater Channel Expansion Project involves 7.5 miles of improvements costing $20 million. The infrastructure serves 70% of the county and provides a vital foundation for future water management projects as development continues. These improvements ensure the community is better prepared and protected when future rain events occur, Fuentes explained.
“We received $20 million, roughly, from the General Land Office in 2015 and 2016, mitigation monies. Here in the northern part of Hidalgo County, everything that's basically north of the expressway for almost all of Hidalgo County flows up to this North Main Drain,” Fuentes said.
“We've made a lot of improvements with other laterals, and the cities have made done some improvements also. But this Main Drain really receives most of the water that comes down in any sort of rainfall or even surface water runoff. So, these $20 million have bee put into seven miles of ditch widening, in some places doubling the capacity, and in other places tripling the capacity. So we used as much of the right of way as we could to try to increase that capacity. So, it's going to hopefully be a big improvement.”
Fuentes said there were a lot of people, collaborators and various agencies that helped make the Main Floodwater Channel Expansion Project happen. But in his remarks from the podium he referenced one particular person.
Fuentes told Ron Whitlock Reports:
“His name was Brian Montgomery and he served in the first Trump administration. He was the deputy director of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, DC. We were able to schedule a meeting with him a couple of times. We were putting our best foot forward and trying to justify that monies through these programs really should be allocated to mitigation projects and not just for rebuilding. The majority of the monies that had in the past been designated more for rebuilding, were not really addressing the problem.
“So, he was willing to listen to us. He listened to our arguments as to how, if you mitigate, you don't have to rebuild. We're fixing the problem, as opposed to repairing the problem. So he was very open to that dialog.
“I believe his wife is from the Brownsville area, so he very knew what the Rio Grande Valley was all about. He understood where we were trying to get to and he was open to that dialog.
"Without those conversations with him, we don’t feel this project would have happened. We don't know where he (Montgomery) is at right now. I don't think he's part of the administration this time around. But we were very, very thankful that he was there for us and willing to listen to us and helping us along.”
