Underwater

Under Water

Colonias on the Texas-Mexico border are hit hard even by small storms. For a local nonprofit, the solution lies in affordable, sustainable housing. But how do you rebuild in an area that keeps flooding?

Verónica G. Cárdenas

Lourdes Salinas stands in the elevated spot where she made phone calls and helped to evacuate residents during the June 2018 flood.

By Sophie Novack
April 27, 2020
Leer en español.

Lourdes Salinas stood at the end of her street and watched as her neighborhood filled with water.

She awoke on the morning of June 20, 2018, to the sound of heavy rain pouring off the roof of her white-brick home. Salinas grabbed an umbrella and hurried through the front yard, past a chain-link fence where a handwritten sign instructs visitors to grite, yell, in the absence of a doorbell. She dodged potholes brimming with water as she made her way down the slick slope of a hill. Salinas paused on the edge of North Baseline Road, which divides her colonia, Indian Hills, into its east and west sides. A sodden American flag hung in a neighbor’s front lawn behind her; nearby, a sign posted on a tree read “Keep Texas beautiful. Proud community.” The salmon-colored mini-market across the street advertised milk, eggs, tacos, Sunday barbacoa; just beyond, rain filled front lawns, soaking old car parts and clothes hung out to dry. Kids swam in the murky water, dotted with debris and trash, as though it were a pool. A canal close by threatened to overflow. Salinas, now 59, became frantic. “Oh my god, get out of the colonia!” she shouted. “Get your families, get out, get out!”