Cameron County is building a flood early warning system to alert residents about possible flooding before it reaches their neighborhoods.

Across the Rio Grande Valley, 48 data collection stations have already been installed, and Cameron County is looking to add at least 18 more.

Cameron County Director of Resilience and Natural Resources Augusto Sánchez González said the system is designed to give residents several hours of notice before floodwaters arrive.

"So the community can take actions five, or six hours in advance before the water gets to those particular points so they can grab sandbags or grab important documents," Sánchez González said.

The stations are designed to communicate with each other to track rising water levels upstream and send alerts downstream.

"So the one monitoring upstream can alert the monitoring system downstream that the water is rising too fast in that area," Sánchez González said. "Based on what is happening upstream, in five, six, or 10 hours you're gonna see flooding here, or there's a high probability of having flooding."

Cameron County is leading the regional project because the county received state funding for it.

Sánchez González said the data the system collects will also help cities and counties decide which flood mitigation projects to pursue.

The project cost around $1.2 million and was paid for with state funding.

The county plans to have a link available in the fall where people can sign up to receive flood alerts.

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