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NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico – Drenching storms have raised reservoirs along the U.S.-Mexico border to their highest levels in decades, forcing officials to dump water into flooded rivers on Wednesday and evacuate tens of thousands of people from homes, with yet another storm on the way.
The dramatic rise of the Rio Grande caused by Hurricane Alex and continuing rains forced the closure of at least one major border crossing between downtown Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
Officials evacuated the flood-threatened Vega Verde subdivision in Del Rio, Texas, some 110 miles (180 kilometers) upstream from Laredo, while high waters in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila have already damaged some 10,000 homes — many swamped in waist-deep water.
"That means there are 40,000 people who don't have any place to sleep," Gov. Humberto Moreira told the Televisa network on Thursday.
To the southeast, Mexican officials evacuated nearly 18,000 people from houses in Ciudad Anahuac for fear that water would overflow the Venustiano Carranza dam and threaten lives.
Ciudad Anahuac Mayor Santos Garza Garcia said at least 1,500 homes already had been flooded in the town of Rodriguez, across the Salado River from his city.
Water behind the binational Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande was at its highest level since 1974, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission, forcing officials to release water from it at the fastest rate in a quarter century.
The dramatic rise of the Rio Grande caused by Hurricane Alex and continuing rains forced the closure of at least one major border crossing between downtown Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
Officials evacuated the flood-threatened Vega Verde subdivision in Del Rio, Texas, some 110 miles (180 kilometers) upstream from Laredo, while high waters in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila have already damaged some 10,000 homes — many swamped in waist-deep water.
"That means there are 40,000 people who don't have any place to sleep," Gov. Humberto Moreira told the Televisa network on Thursday.
To the southeast, Mexican officials evacuated nearly 18,000 people from houses in Ciudad Anahuac for fear that water would overflow the Venustiano Carranza dam and threaten lives.
Ciudad Anahuac Mayor Santos Garza Garcia said at least 1,500 homes already had been flooded in the town of Rodriguez, across the Salado River from his city.
Water behind the binational Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande was at its highest level since 1974, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission, forcing officials to release water from it at the fastest rate in a quarter century.
