RGV Coalition of Drainage Advocates (CODA) is a grassroots organization working to build flood resilience in South Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. Based in Harlingen, Texas, RGV CODA grew out of an earlier group called Reinvent Harlingen Drainage, which formed in response to two consecutive 500-year storm events in 2018 and 2019 that disproportionately affected Harlingen’s low-income and Latino communities. These flood events—which are growing more common and severe with climate change—were compounded by outdated infrastructure and inadequate flood planning, not only in Harlingen but throughout the Rio Grande Valley. After the region experienced another devastating flood in March 2025, the organization changed its name and expanded the scope of its mission. Now serving residents of Harlingen and communities throughout South Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, RGV CODA engages in education, advocacy, and community organizing, pushing for better drainage, updated ordinances, and greater accountability for sustainable flood mitigation in the region.
Flooding in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley in 2018. Photo: Zachary Wolf/Wikimedia Commons
A small group of volunteers led by Harlingen resident and civil engineer J.V. Garcia, RGV CODA is working to create a safer, more flood-resilient Rio Grande Valley. Following Harlingen’s 2018 and 2019 flood events—and thanks in part to RGV CODA’s advocacy—the city was awarded a $2.2 million FEMA Hazard Mitigation grant to help fund its Ninth & 13th Street drainage improvement project, which will expand the capacity of the city’s storm sewer system. The project will remove and replace approximately 7,180 linear feet of reinforced concrete pipe, 14 manholes, and 52 inlets. By circulating petitions and seeking resolutions from city governments, RGV CODA is building public support for a Rio Grande Valley Flood Control District, which aims to coordinate the Valley’s many municipal drainage efforts into a unified, watershed-based approach to regional flooding. “As a civil engineer, I will never say ‘stop building,’” says Garcia. “I am pro-development. But let’s build in a smart way that isn’t going to flood our neighbors and isn’t going to be detrimental to our citizens.”
Flooding in Lake Travis, Texas, in July 2007. Photo: FEMA Photo Library (public domain)
Bob McMillan/ FEMA Photo