Tropical Storm Alberto replenishes dams in Nuevo León and Tamaulipas

Tropical Storm Alberto was a godsend for water supply in Mexico’s northern states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, bringing rain that caused dam levels to rise significantly this week.

Alberto, which made landfall in Tamaulipas early Thursday morning and quickly downgraded to a tropical depression, brought extremely heavy rain to northeastern Mexico.

The three reservoirs that supply water to the city of Monterrey were among those that benefited from the much-needed precipitation.

In a post to X on Monday morning, the National Water Commission’s general director for the Rio Grande Basin reported that the La Boca Dam was at 36.95% of capacity, while the El Cuchillo Dam was at 31.67% and the Cerro Prieto Dam was at just 4.96%.

“Good morning, cheer up! We’re relying on a cyclone,” Luis Carlos Alatorre wrote at the top of his post, referring to the storm that was flagged as a potential tropical cyclone as it moved through the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week.

At 9 a.m. Friday morning, about 28 hours after Alberto made landfall, Alatorre said that La Boca was at 104.19% of capacity, while El Cuchillo was at 49.21% and Cerro Prieto was at 29.83%.

Como medida preventiva, ante las #Lluvias que sigue generando #Alberto, ahora como #BajaPresión remanente, a las 19:40 h, se incrementó la extracción de 139 m³/s a 211 m³/s, por vertedor controlado, en la presa La Boca.

Se encuentra al 100% de llenado. Con ingresos de 362 m³/s pic.twitter.com/GbzN28rEeh

— Conagua (@conagua_mx) June 21, 2024

Floodgates at La Boca Dam, where water levels rose to over 100% capacity, were opened on Thursday.

Thus, water levels in La Boca have increased by more than 67 percentage points since Monday morning, while those in El Cuchillo and Cerro Prieto have risen by 17.5 points and 25 points, respectively.

Floodgates were opened at La Boca on Thursday, allowing water to run to the El Cuchillo Dam.

Alatorre also reported on Friday that the recently-built La Libertad Dam in Nuevo León was at 12% of capacity.

“The new Libertad Dam is now a reality,” Nuevo León Governor Samuel García said in a video message during a visit to the dam on Thursday.

He noted that Alberto had brought “a tremendous downpour” to Nuevo León, which went through a water crisis in 2022.

In the neighboring state of Tamaulipas, Governor Américo Villareal also took to social media to comment on the “great benefits” brought by Tropical Storm Alberto.

“In different municipalities between 200 and 350 millimeters of rain has been recorded. Some streams and rivers continue to fill up, which is beneficial to increase the [water level] percentages of our reservoirs and lagoon systems, which is so needed at this time,” he wrote on X on Thursday afternoon.

The Vicente Guerrero Dam in the municipality of Padilla — whose water levels had declined significantly — is one of the dams in Tamaulipas that benefited from the rain.

Reservoirs in Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Coahuila also received significant amounts of rain brought by Alberto.

Villareal reported that the torrential rain had caused flooding in some parts of Tamaulipas, which has recently suffered from water supply shortages. He noted that the Corona River had broken its banks and that some families in the municipality of Güémez were being evacuated.

Four deaths in Nuevo León have been attributed to the tropical storm. Three of the victims were children.

A 16-year-old in Monterrey died in a river, trapped by the currents when he attempted to retrieve a soccer ball, and two 12-year-olds in the state were electrocuted in the municipality of Allende when they rode their bikes through a large puddle that was in contact with a live wire.

Mexico News Daily