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Felipe Ayala Jr. sagde at har var i gang med at lave hotdogs fredag eftermiddag, da vandet startede med at sive igennem murene.

Mere vand sivede ind via gulvet. Dan han åbnede døren, så væltede brunt vand og affald ind.

"Det er ligesom en sump," sagde den 42 årige fra et nødcenter fredag aften. "Der er affald alle steder."

Ayala bar boet i huset langs med Cypress Drive i nabolaget syd for Iowa Road i Edinburg for omkring 2 uger - en periode med adskillige dage med lokaliserede regnskyl som tilsyneladende nåede nye højder fredag eftermiddag.

Så meget som 210 mm [6 inches] faldt på mindre end tre timer, hvilket medførte evakueringer og vejlukninger i øst Edinburg og de tilstødende nabolag, deriblandt San Carlos, hvor Federal Emergency Management Agency havde started med at undersøge beskadigede ejendomme.

"Vi har selvfølgelig været optaget af dette for omkring fem uger," sagde Kommissar Joseph Palacios fra Hidalgo County Precinct 4 . "Folks sikkerhed kommer først."

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© Veronica Christine SalinasFloodwaters cover University Drive near the entrance to the University of Texas-Pan American campus in Edinburg after heavy rainfall June 19, 2015.

Kommentar: Vi undskylder at resten af artiklen er på engelsk, men vores lille stab er ikke altid istand til fuldkomment at oversætte artikler til dansk, men synes dog at de også bør være tilgængelige for et nordisk publikum.


The Red Cross set up a shelter Friday evening at First Baptist Church, 201 E. Samano St., where Ayala and his relatives alongside one other family had relocated. Others in his neighborhood stayed behind, he said, plucking garbage from clogged storm drains.

Eddie Olivarez, who heads the Hidalgo County Health Department, said sanitation and hygiene were immediate needs that his employees were working to address Friday night.

And with more rain forecast for today and Sunday, officials kept a tenuous tone for what bodes for the weekend — beyond the time it will take to remove floodwaters from areas with poor drainage. Widespread flooding prompted Edinburg officials to activate its emergency operations center Friday evening.

"This is an event that's going to last several days," Olivarez said. "It's not going away anytime soon."

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning that had been set to expire at 4:15 a.m. today along and east of the Expressway 281 corridor north of Pharr and Alamo, stretching into Edinburg's eastern side and northeast to Monte Alto.

Officials reported evacuating 11 families from a colonia near Tower and Minnesota roads. Stalled cars dotted many area streets and roadways, which were shuttered with between six and 18 inches of water flooding the way.

Many thoroughfares in Edinburg were under water as a result of the torrential downpours, with a home and business reportedly flooded at Sugar Road and University Drive near the University of Texas-Pan American campus.

"The rain's pretty much over, but the area's still going to see flooding until the water drains off there," Brian Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville, said of the Friday afternoon downpours.

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms remains in the forecast for this afternoon. Red Cross officials at the shelter said they'd been told that Friday was supposed to be dry and had been anticipating heavier rains today and Sunday, but the forecast apparently was wrong.

Ayala said he managed to take his mattresses that were on the floor atop a dresser so they wouldn't be ruined in the floodwater, six inches of which filled his home when he left.

He lives there with his brother, girlfriend and her two children.

Left behind were his two dogs. He said he hopes they managed to climb atop the mattresses, so they could stay dry until he goes home.

"That's just life," Ayala said.