Fifty-eight years ago this week, were it not for warning broadcasts by radio station KRIO in McAllen - it was called the Gentle Giant - hundreds could have lost their lives and drowned in Harlingen, just like what recently happened in Kerr County, Texas.
Today, due to brush accumulation along the Arroyo Colorado, as it meanders through Harlingen, the residents and the economy there that provides their jobs are at serious, serious risk - just like those that lost their lives and jobs in Kerr County, Texas, when a wall of water there came crashing down the Guadalupe in the middle of the night, bringing death and destruction there.
If you don't believe me, please know that this is the week, the 58th anniversary week, of a wall of flood water caused by Hurricane Beulah that came crashing into Harlingen, also in the middle of the night, after a federal IBWC weir dam failed at Mercedes. The difference between Harlingen and Hunt, Texas, is that in 1967 the legendary KRIO radio station, the only radio or TV station on the air during Beulah at that time, put out warnings to the people of Harlingen that the wall of Beulah rainwater was on its way and coming.
Now these radio broadcast bulletins were made possible because Harlingen police officer Omar Lucio, who later served as Cameron County sheriff, was notified by the Mercedes police department that that wall of water caused by Beulah flooding was heading towards Harlingen, so they called KRIO and the bulletin went out. The difference between Harlingen and Kerr County was Kerr county governmental officials, and likewise, the radio stations licensed to served the community there failed. They put out their warning three hours after the wall of water had already done its death of destruction, costing the lives of 27 little girls and counselors at Camp Mystic and over 100 others, many visitors to the Texas Hill Country.
What I'm asking today of the Rio Grande Guardian is that you, your readers and listeners, join me today in making sure that what happened in Hunt, Texas, doesn't replicate itself and happen in Harlingen. That's what, with God's help, I was able to help accomplish as new director at KRIO during Beulah. We hope we can replicate those warnings today, and also by clearing out this brush in the Arroyo Colorado.
On the subject of the brush, this last Thursday, I was lucky enough to be with in Harlingen with key elected federal officials, in the morning with Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, and then, later in the afternoon, with Senator John Cornyn and their staff. And with them, I was able to ask for their help in getting the brush surrounding the Arroyo Colorado out and cleared away in Harlingen as soon as possible. If we had another wall of flood water raging and coming down the arroyo again, the water, with the brush cleared out, could swiftly flow through Harlingen and not endanger its people and its jobs, like it did during Beulah, when the water came up to the rooftops in many cases.
So, if you want to join in this public policy advocacy, I'm asking that the Guardian’s readers and viewers please send me any pictures or home movies that they might have, or maybe even just family stories that were passed down through the ages from their grandparents and great grandparents, telling us today what happened during Beulah when that wall of water came crashing into Harlingen.
If they could send them to either the Rio Grande Guardian or The Shepherd Group at ronjwhitlock@icloud.com, I would be most grateful. Why do we need them? Well, we need them to help advocate and convince not only our elected officials, but the community at large, that this important issue of clearing this brush out from alongside the Arroyo Colorado is made a priority, and done sooner rather than later. This brush must be cleared out along the Arroyo Colorado in Harlingen, so as protect the lives and jobs of the people of Harrington that so depend on it.
Editor's Note: The above guest column was penned by Ron Whitlock, president of The Shepherd Group and TV anchor for Ron Whitlock Reports. Whitlock was director of news and public affairs for KRIO AM 910 when Hurricane Beulah hit in September 1967.
