Because the Upper Rio Grande Flood Planning Group covers such a large area, the organization wants as many people as possible to provide feedback on flooding and flood management.
Omar Martinez is the chair of the Upper Rio Grande Flood Planning group. He also works for El Paso County Water District No. 1 and does consulting work throughout Far West Texas mainly on water and economic development projects.
“Flooding isn’t a problem in West Texas until there is a flooding problem. Last year near Marfa, there was a person that died,” Martinez said. “Essentially, they were crossing a creek with a vehicle and then the water came rushing very quickly and washed them out.”
“It was raining in Jeff Davis County and all of a sudden the water flow goes all the way down to Presidio County and that’s where the incident happened. So it rained somewhere else and the incident happens miles and miles away,” Martinez added.
He said the Earth tells you where these issues can arise, but people tend to build where it’s pretty, “not so much where it’s safe.”
Public open-house style meetings are set for 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Odessa College-Pecos Center, 1000 S. Eddy St., Pecos, and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Presidio Activity Center, 1200 E. O’Reilly St., Presidio.
They also discuss historic flooding how to design projects to solve them, Martinez said.
Martinez said the geological data from satellites or airplanes flying over to take measurements on elevations doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Data will help you plan, but it’s how you interpret the data that you come up with real-world projects that can help save lives and save property …,” Martinez said.
He said climate change is essentially “changing the rules of the game.”
“We have to use the best data available to us to plan for it …,” Martinez added.
