River rises with recent rain spelling danger for migrants
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Recent rains in the watershed have caused river levels from Eagle Pass to the Lower Rio Grande Valley to peak twice in the last two weeks.
At the IWBC rain gauge in Rio Grande City on Sunday, the flow rate peaked near 38 cubic feet per second. That was four times greater than the week before. The flow was just 8 cubic meters per second on Aug. 23, when the river was also a foot lower.
At least nine migrants died while trying to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass last week, and officials say the water levels played a big factor in the deaths.
Eddie Canales, who runs the South Texas Human Rights Center in Falfurrias, takes calls from families of immigrants, who fear their loved ones are missing.
Canales says there’s the official tally of those lost, and then the real tally.
“The number of the missing far outnumber the recovered bodies,” Canales said.
Canales warns it’s often not just the river level that signals danger, but the speed and momentum of the water.
“It looks calm and everything, but the undertow, that’s what takes people away,” Canales said.
Canales says he’s counting more deaths this year than last.
“Numbers have increased in all the counties: Cameron County, Kenedy County, Brooks County,” Canales said.
Part of the search effort in Eagle Pass revealed the bodies of more immigrants than just those who drowned on Thursday; bodies that had been out there longer.
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