South McAllen drainage project to protect 1,500 acres from flooding

City of McAllen leaders hope a newly retrofitted section of its drainage system on the south side will protect 1,500 acres, or about 2.3 square miles, of residential and commercial properties from severe flooding. 

The city’s Balboa ditch sluice gate improvement project replaced five manual gates with automatic gates, each equipped with valves to prevent backflow during heavy rain. 

The $610,000 construction project took about seven months to complete, wrapping up in September. The general contractor was Brownsville-based Diverse Construction, and the engineering firm was Perez Consulting Engineers. 

Michael Cisneros, owner of Diverse Construction, said that he’s noticed there’s more opportunity for drainage projects in Hidalgo County this year. But that rain did delay construction for the McAllen project. 

“It was a challenge since it’s in a ditch, having to excavate, pouring the concrete,” Cisneros said. 

But the company did complete it a few months ahead of schedule and expects to bid on more drainage projects in McAllen as the city continues to develop raw land. 

In general, one of the biggest issues to reduce flooding is ensuring maintenance of the overall drainage system, he said. 

“Maintenance is one of the things. I think these sluice gates were out for about 10 years. There was a lot of mud, a lot of debris going in there, then rust,” Cisneros said. 

The project was funded by the city’s drainage fee, which has been collected since 2018. It’s a fee added to water bills based on a calculation of impervious surface inside a property. 

“This is a massive improvement. There’s no need to call someone out in the middle of the night,” said Eduardo Mendoza, director of engineering at the city of McAllen. “When our drainage system reaches capacity, this automation means faster response, improved reliability, and stronger flood protection.”