Hidalgo County Judge issues disaster declaration due to ongoing drought

Special to the Advance

EDINBURG — Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez on Tuesday issued a disaster declaration due to the ongoing drought that he called “a threat of imminent disaster.”

Because of “the prolonged period of exceptional drought conditions,” the one-page declaration said, the drought conditions “pose an imminent and continuous threat of widespread or severe damage, injury or loss of life or property and to public health, municipal water supplies and agricultural production.”

The declaration goes into effect immediately and lasts for seven days. The Hidalgo County Commissioners Court may vote to extend the declaration when it meets next Tuesday, April 16.

“We have been working diligently to assess the scope of the problem and how it is affecting the residents of Hidalgo County,” Judge Cortez said. “This declaration is the first step in securing statewide aid to help us through what is predicted to be another dry summer.” The disaster declaration comes one month after Texas Governor Greg Abbott renewed his own disaster declaration on March 17, 2024 for several counties throughout Texas. Governor Abbott issued his initial disaster declaration in April of 2018 and has renewed it every six months since then.

Judge Cortez’s declaration activates the county’s emergency management plan and allows Hidalgo County to begin to tap into statewide funding to mitigate any drought related problems, including an ongoing threat of wildfire.

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Hidalgo County