District courts in Brownsville close as Hurricane Alex advances

With rain generated by Hurricane Alex already pelting Brownsville, the Cameron County District Clerk’s Office is preparing to close at noon today and will not be open on Thursday. In a telephone interview this morning, District Clerk Aurora de la Garza says the district courts in Brownsville are closed today and tomorrow and that she is preparing the central jury room at the Cameron County Courthouse as a shelter for those county employees who have to stay on the job. “It’s pouring,” and there are tornado warnings, de la Garza says. On Tuesday, her staff wrapped plastic around all the district clerk’s files currently in storage in a warehouse in San Benito and placed sandbags at the warehouse’s doors, says de la Garza. She says her staff also removed files from their desks and disconnected and covered all equipment in the office. Streets in Brownsville already are flooding, and the rain has reduced visibility, de la Garza says. “I can’t even see, it’s so dark,” she says.
-- Mary Alice Robbins