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New Hampshire National Guard encounters new challenges at Texas border

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New Hampshire National Guard encounters new challenges at Texas border


Bulletin writer Annmarie Timmins will be reporting from Eagle Pass, Texas, this week, in collaboration with New Hampshire Public Radio, while shadowing the 15 National Guard soldiers sent by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu to assist with border patrol. You can find her reporting at New Hampshire Bulletin and NHPR, both on air and online.

Two weeks into their mission in Eagle Pass, Texas, New Hampshire National Guard soldiers said they are seeing more attempts to cross the border illegally than expected. That’s true even for those who’ve been deployed to the border before.

“This mission differs immensely in terrain, number of integral breaches in our barriers, as well as the difficulty of operation effectiveness,” said Sgt. Connor Decker in an email. “The way cartel runners or illegal immigrants alone breach through secure border are evolving and cannot be so easily solved with a static solution.”

The Bulletin communicated via email last week with four of the 15 soldiers Gov. Chris Sununu deployed earlier this month to assist the Texas National Guard in securing the border. It’s a state-paid $850,000 trip unlike the prior deployments, which were federally ordered and funded.

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New Hampshire is paying the Texas National Guard $200 a day per soldier for room and board as well as other base expenses. The state funding will also cover salary and benefits.

In asking lawmakers to approve his funding request in February, Sununu said he believes all states should send troops to help Texas stop the illegal crossings by undocumented migrants and the smuggling of fentanyl, the drug responsible for the most drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire in 2022, according to a state medical examiner’s report.

Though, U.S. Sentencing Commission data showed that Americans account for a huge percentage of fentanyl trafficking convictions. In 2022, it was 90 percent.

Some Republican governors have sent fewer soldiers — Montana deployed 10 this month — while others have sent more, such as Iowa, which deployed 100 in early April.

The New Hampshire soldiers, all of whom volunteered to go to Texas, are working in teams of three or four, alongside soldiers from the Texas National Guard and Louisiana National Guard. They are working 10-hour night shifts, and while they are with a military police unit in New Hampshire, they are not arresting or detaining individuals, said Greg Heilshorn, spokesman for the New Hampshire National Guard.

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He described this as an “eyes and ears” deployment in support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. The soldiers are watching for illegal crossings at observation posts and roving patrols, looking for breaches in the fence. They are scheduled to return in June.

Pfc. Macenzi Connors is serving her first deployment to the southern border and is one of three women who volunteered. She said the partnership with Texas has been rewarding.

“Knowing that I get to help out a fellow state to deter illegal immigrants and report … any suspicious activity that we see is a good feeling on its own,” she said in an email. “So far, it has been a lot busier than we thought, but working as a team and knowing that the people I came down with will always have my back makes being down here a lot easier.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, federal law enforcement is reporting fewer encounters in the Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, each month since December, when it spiked to 71,048. In April, the agency reported 11,281 encounters.

Spc. Carson Geha is also serving his first mission. Even with the drop in the number of encounters, he too has been surprised by the number of cartel “runners” cutting the fence to cross illegally. “Working side by side with the Texas National Guard has brought a sense of teamwork in order to deter illegal immigrants and keep our border secure.”

Spc. Connor Sills spent about a year at the southern border as part of last year’s federal deployment. He told the Bulletin he volunteered to return to help the soldiers who haven’t been through the experience. In an email last week, Sills said the Texas soldiers are doing the same. He has spent his nights roving the fence line, separating the Rio Grande from Texas.

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New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@newhampshirebulletin.com. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.





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Video: Floodwaters Inundate Texas

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Video: Floodwaters Inundate Texas


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Floodwaters Inundate Texas

Residents in parts of Southeast Texas waded through waist-high water as rescue efforts were underway.

Rescue worker: “We all right here?” OK, you good? Yeah.

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South Texas Storm Chances continue the evening

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South Texas Storm Chances continue the evening


This is a weather radar image of south Texas taken at 3:11 PM. Scattered storms continue moving east/southeast across South-Central Texas, the Coastal Bend, and Southeast Texas.

Scattered thunderstorms are possible this afternoon across the southern Edwards Plateau, South-Central Texas, east into the Coastal Plains, and Southeast Texas. Most individual storms will move east/southeast through the evening hours. Some storms may be strong to severe with large hail, localized damaging winds, and a non-zero risk of a spinup tornado. Nearly constant cloud-to-ground lightning, along with heavy rainfall, is a guarantee for any thunderstorm.

Simulated weather model radar this afternoon through Monday morning from the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR).

Click the ? or static image for a full animated version. Simulated weather model radar this afternoon through Monday morning from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR).

As we continue into tonight, thunderstorms will weaken and start to die down across the southern portions of the state. Into Monday morning, we will feature southerly winds, bringing a tropical-like environment north across the eastern seventy-five percent of Texas. That environment will continue advancing north into Oklahoma and Kansas. Spotty showers, drizzle, and low clouds will be widespread tonight.

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A severe weather outbreak is expected on Monday afternoon into Monday night across Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. An isolated severe storm can't be ruled out in Texoma and North Texas. If we have storms in Texas, they'd be capable of producing tornadoes, giant hail, and damaging wind gusts.

Monday afternoon through Monday night will bring a severe weather outbreak to Oklahoma and Kansas. Northern portions of Texas are on the southern edge of the risk, where we may see one or two storms fire up during Monday’s evening hours. If any storms do manage to develop, they would likely become severe with a threat of destructive hail and localized damaging winds. The most likely outcome is that storms remain north of the Red River. Most of Texas should remain thunderstorm-free on Monday.



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At least 224 people, 153 pets rescued in Texas floods with more rain in the forecast | CNN

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At least 224 people, 153 pets rescued in Texas floods with more rain in the forecast | CNN




CNN
 — 

As rivers swell across South Texas, leaving homes and businesses flooded and thousands of people displaced, residents are looking skyward Sunday as the threat of more rain looms.

At least 224 people have been rescued from homes and vehicles in Harris County, Texas, an official said Saturday night, with evacuation orders and flood watches in place, as more rain expected descends on the state Sunday, with a bull’s-eye of excessive rainfall over the already waterlogged Houston area.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told CNN, adding 153 pets have also been rescued during the deluge.

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“It’s been really sad to see the impact of people’s livelihoods, homes, infrastructure as well as just the public infrastructure,” Hidalgo told CNN Saturday.

“We’re really asking folks to give it a minute before they go back home.”

Most of the weekend’s rain fell over western and central Texas, but there’s a significant chance of heavier rain in the greater Houston area Sunday.

An additional 1 to 3 inches of rainfall possible by Monday morning, according to the Houston National Weather Service office. Isolated areas could see up to 4 to 8 inches of rainfall.

“Because of multiple rounds of heavy rain over the past week, flooding may be seen earlier than would be expected under typical conditions. Rainfall today will continue to exacerbate existing river flooding,” warned the Houston weather service office.

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The rainfall amounts in the region have been huge over the past week, with some areas picking up two months worth of rain in five days. The weather service listed some of the rainfall totals it collected:

  • Groveton, TX- 23.56”
  • Huntsville, TX- 21.76”
  • Splendora, TX- 21.01”
  • Willis, TX- 20.75”
  • Livingston, TX- 18.42”

There is relief on the horizon, however. The rest of the week’s forecast for Houston is showing dry weather and warm temperatures from Monday through Saturday, with lots of sunshine to help dry the region out.

This week’s storms were just the latest in a series of brutal weather events that have pounded the state since early April. Dozens of tornadoes have hit from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast, some areas of the state have been pounded with softball-sized hail and months of rain has fallen in East Texas in intense spurts, causing rivers to rise to levels not seen since the devastating floods of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

The bridge over Lake Houston, along West Lake Houston Parkway from Kingwood to Atascocita, was closed due to high water on Saturday in Kingwood, Texas.

Mandatory evacuations are in place in counties in and around the Houston area, as local officials make comparisons to past disasters. The flooding is “85% worse than Hurricane Harvey,” Emmitt Eldridge, San Jacinto County’s emergency management coordinator, told CNN. “This has been a historic flood for Walker County. We have flooded more from this event than we did during Hurricane Harvey,” Sherri Pegoda, Walker County’s deputy emergency management coordinator, said.

A mandatory evacuation order remains in place for low-lying unincorporated areas of Polk County through Sunday evening, emergency managers said in a Facebook post, as are homes along rivers in Harris and Montgomery counties.

Disaster declarations are active for over a third of Texas counties after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded the storm-related declarations in response to the flooding, according to a news release. Additional counties could be added in the coming days, particularly with more storms in the forecast.

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