Mid-Valley returning to normal

WESLACO - City officials said life in the Mid-Valley is beginning to return to normal after Hurricane Dolly slammed into the area last week.

Homeland Security director for Weslaco and Donna George Garrett said about 80 percent of homes in Weslaco have had their power restored, and there are no reports of outages coming from Donna.

Garrett said utility companies the area still without power has shrunk to a cluster of homes and businesses south of Business 83.

"It's going take a while longer to get power up and services restored," he said. "Citizens need to understand it takes days to recover from a hurricane. You just have to bear with us."

Hurricane Dolly blasted the Mid-Valley as a Category 1 storm, dumping approximately 10 inches of rain on the area, Garrett said.

Sustained winds of about 63 mph for nearly seven hours accompanied the rain, Garrett said, with a weather station at the Weslaco Mid-Valley Airport recording a peak gust of as high as 74 mph. Garrett said the eyewall passed over Delta Lake, 18 miles north of Weslaco.

"I don't think any of us were prepared on how (slow) the storm went," Garrett said. "It stayed in the Delta area for seven hours. This was a slow moving storm." 

Although Dolly took time to move out of the area, Garrett said there no injuries reported in the Mid-Valley.

Garrett said the city drained very well, leaving few problems for motorists in the Weslaco area.

Garrett also said much of the water in the area is now safe to drink since the lifting of advisories asking local residents to boil water before drinking it or using it for cooking or washing dishes. The advisory is still valid for customers who receive their water from North Alamo Water Supply, however, Garrett said.