San Antonio Flood

San Antonio has suffered two major floods in the past four years, one of them still visiting its impact on the city from heavy rains that besieged the region for four days. The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, estimates damages will be near or more than $1 billion in costs (Badger 1). Two images in the appendix (pgs. 5-6) illustrate the heavy toll on residents in San Antonio and neighboring areas. Rain-soaked South Texas has experienced some of the heaviest rainfalls ever recorded in Texas, with more than 30 inches of rain falling in three days (Record 1).

Ironically, just before the heavy rains San Antonio officials had ordered mandatory water-use restrictions because of water shortfalls. Less than a week after the restrictions were ordered, San Antonio Mayor Ed Garza declared "a state of disaster" after several portions of the city were flooded in the downpour that lasted four days (McLemore 1). Thousands of people were forced to evacuate the San Antonio towns of Castroville and LaCoste. The normally innocuous Medina River was rising to record levels in the wake of the heavy rainfall. The dam protecting these towns was built nearly 100 years ago, making officials worry that the river might exceed the capacity of the dam to hold back the rising water levels. As one journalist writes, "Officials said their concern was that the river might flow over the top of Medina Dam. The dam was built in 1915 and water has never poured ove

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Category: History - S