A tale of two cities

Yesterday afternoon the city alarms from Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila - México went off about ten minutes before strong storms hit our area. Long-time readers of my blog know I live on the southern tip of Val Verde County about five minutes from the International Bridge.  I, therefore, hear their alarms before I hear the ones from Del Rio. I still do not know if ours went off and the local online webpage that masquerades as our newspaper made no reference to it or if there was any damage in the city.

I have been busy all day trying to organize my grocery stock and fighting with the cats so I had not had time to watch the news. My uncle who lives in Mexico City called this evening very worried about what had happened in Ciudad Acuña. Understandably, I asked him...what happened?  He said he had just seen a news clip about a terrible storm that hit Ciudad Acuña last night but would not know any more until the evening news.

I went online to El Zócalo newspaper's webpage and found that the rain amounts, as well as damage, were much worse than the rain amounts reported here.  KENS 5 reported we received 2.3 inches but nothing else.

Ciudad Acuña received 6.5 inches of rain in less than an hour and hail up to 1.5 inches. There was city-wide flooding, fallen trees, swollen creeks, and streets that resembled rivers.  I know this article is in Spanish but pictures do not need translation https://www.zocalo.com.mx/tromba-dano-mas-de-70-viviendas-en-acuna/

This article makes reference to Del Rio receiving hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter and images of a thin tornado. There is also a video of a car being carried away by the strong currents in Cd. Acuña https://www.zocalo.com.mx/causa-tormenta-caos-y-destrozos/

I am glad that as far as I know nothing that severe occurred in Del Rio. I hope no one was impacted by the bad weather that still lingers this evening in other parts of the nation.

Mom's front yard

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Wine Humor

Local water compromised / Newspaper dead zone

Yesterday we had a sunny warm day but the Del Rio weather station is still not able to disseminate its information in the aftermath of the storm of last week. That is why there is a difference of information KSAT-12 said it was 88 degrees yesterday while KENS-5 had a reading for Del Rio of 82 degrees. Either way, it was a lovely warm day.

We were warned the weather would change starting last night and they were right. It began raining in the early morning hours and the sun never came out. We had a high of 68 degrees but it felt cooler with the wind. Had to transfer my water catchment around to other containers as more rain is expected in the following days and we certainly need it.

I had high hopes the snow and freezing temperatures would have killed the weeds but I was wrong they appear to have grown more and now we have tons of ant mounds all over the property. These are the pissy ant mounds we get every year in spring but this time they are ahead of schedule.

It is so frustrating not to have any information of what is going on in Del Rio without a city newspaper and it seems that El Zócalo the Ciudad Acuña newspaper has revamped its webpage and they no longer have a Texas section. While they do have one or two articles about Del Rio they are old. For example, today's online edition focused on empty shelves at Walmart and HEB on Monday.

I am concerned about an item I saw on CNN it was a virtual interview with the Del Rio mayor Bruno Lozano where he stated that San Felipe Creek that is fed by San Felipe Springs had been contaminated when sewer water accidentally was released. This is the water source for Del Rio.

I saw a clip of a military plane landing at Laughlin Air Force Base with tons of pallets of drinking water that were meant for law enforcement, the hospital, and nursing homes but not the local residents.  While we do not need any water I am sure there are other people who still have busted pipes that could use some.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Header Picture

More bad weather on the way

I have been getting caught up on local news by reading Ciudad Acuña's El Zócalo Texas section.  Found out that due to the inclement weather we are under a curfew and one could be subjected to a $500 fine for violating it. HEB was not open until noon on Monday and Walmart closed early because there was no power. Other businesses including restaurants and fast food establishments did the same.

Our Civic Center has been converted into a shelter.  Most of the town is shut down.  This evening we expect a hard freeze and tomorrow night more snow is on the way.

San Antonio is about to break a record of the longest period below freezing that is 108 hours set back in 1951.

Only a few San Antonio area HEB stores are open and there are long lines to get in with up to an hour wait in the freezing cold.

I do not see any social distancing in play here.

There are limits on different items depending on the store's location.

They were interviewing people as they exited the store and many said there was hardly anything on the store shelves. It boggles my mind that after a year into Covid people do not have the foresight to have food and water in case of an emergency.  It is not like they did not have any warnings, the San Antonio media (where we get our channels from) warned us of the severity of the event.

I was charging my phone when they gave the snow forecast expected on Wednesday evening/Thursday morning so I could not snap a picture...it was between 2 to 5 inches...I think that is an exaggeration but we will see :-(

The rowdy/drunk and his family came back to his parent's house.  His grandmother told me that they were renting an apartment.  I suppose his power and water went out?

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day