El Paso and Las Cruces natives brace for catastrophic flooding in Texas

Several El Paso and Las Cruces natives discussed what they’ve seen and how they’re preparing for Tropical Storm Harvey’s catastrophic amounts of rain in Texas.

Joe Chacón is an El Paso native who lives in Magnolia. He said many stores are closed and many of the stores that are open are very poorly stocked.

“It’s like a scene out of a movie when there’s a disaster,” Chacón said. “Like an nuclear disaster. It was kind of weird to see the bare shelves.”

His son Brock was supposed to start kindergarten on Monday.

“It got cancelled!” Brock said.

When his father asked why, the six-year-old explained that it was “because of this massive flood-storm.”

Jessica Miller is a graduate of both Oñate High School and New Mexico State University. She graduated in May and now lives in Lake Jackson, Texas.

“It’s been pretty well stocked,” the recent grad said. “Before the storm hit, there was no water, there was no bread, none of the stuff you’d want to stock up with before a storm. But now, there’s all kind of stuff like that.”

Michael Faison is an El Paso native who now lives in League City. His electricity had been down for almost a full day.

“(We’re) wishing we had our power on,” he said.

The majority of his neighborhood gathered around his cul-de-sac in the darkness, sharing stories. The numerous children in his neighborhood were thrilled to not have to go to school.

“It’s kind of like one big camping experience for them,” Faison said. “They don’t understand the magnitude of what’s going on.”