Historic Laredo

Upriver it became a desperate reality that a dam
on the Río Grande was needed at Del Río.
The waters subsided, and the creeks receded,
leaving almost unbelievable high water marks of
amassed brush and debris on the banks. The sister
cities were cut off from each other and would
be until the Army Corps of Engineers constructed
a temporary pontoon bridge across the river.
A single lane pontoon bridge accessible only by
special permit was constructed immediately, followed
by a wider double lane pontoon bridge
with a sidewalk.
In the retrospect of memory and microfiche, it
appears that the Flood of 1954 was a giant photo
opportunity for the state, city, and county officials
who took turns praising not only each other, but
also themselves and their Mexican counterparts
in Nuevo Laredo and Tamaulipas. On a daily
basis, the newspapers just after the river crest
were chock-full of photos of the mayors of both
cities, together and posed individually with the
governor of Tamaulipas; Texas Governor Allan
Shivers; a National Guard colonel; the sheriff; a
U.S. senator; Red Cross and Civil Defense personnel;
in an airlift to Nuevo Laredo with Laredo
Air Force Base pilots; with a colonel from the
Army Corps of Engineers; and with Sen. Lyndon
B. Johnson promising a push for the Amistad
Dam Project at Del Río.
The políticos deserved recognition, for they
had done their essential parts to secure federal
grants to re-build the ruined water system and
the parts of the city, to garner low interest loans
for homeowners, and to find money for disaster
funding and emergency staples.
The true life and limb heroes, however, were
the Guardsmen in their amphibious “Duck,”
pilots and airmen from Laredo Air Force Base,
city and county employees, firemen, policemen,
and the countless citizen volunteers who
evacuated Laredoans from their homes to higher
ground.
Within ten days of the flood, after every last
proclamatory photo opportunity had been
exhausted, front page news in The Times
resumed coverage of French incursions in
Hanoi, Indochina; the ongoing saga of the Duke
of Duval; the fall of President Jacobo Arbenz
Guzman in Guatemala; the fall of Tegucigalpa to
anti-Communist forces; and the revolting antics
of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Danger moved out of the city as quickly as it
had come, leaving mud, debris, destruction, and
the knowledge that our town had rallied to survive
and minimize the ruthless, pounding
course of a wayward river. The river's assault
had made heroes of rich and poor alike, those
who mano-a-mano had helped the other.
❖
Top, left: Guadalupe Street at
Marcella and the cross-town rails
during the 1954 flood.
WEBB COUNTY HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Top, right: Laredoans were well prepared
for the Flood of August 1998. Nuevo
Laredo and City of Laredo crews removed
the rails of the Gateway to the Americas
Bridge (Bridge I) to minimize damage
should flood waters cover the bridge. The
palm trees to the right of the bridge are in
the parking area of Dos Laredos park
which was severely damaged by the flood.
Below: Nuevo Laredo was hardest hit by
flood of August 1998. In a scene
reminiscent of the 1954 Flood, the Mexican
Aduana facility took on serious flooding.
Chapter V ✦ 39