Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez on Friday signed a Declaration of Local Disaster in the wake of Thursday’s rainstorm, which brought with it widespread flooding and caused significant property damage and involved three fatalities.There was no immediate information available regarding the three fatalities, except that they involved law enforcement efforts. More details will be released later. The onepage disaster declaration said that Judge Cortez “has determined that extraordinary measures must be taken to protect the public health, safety and general wellbeing of County citizens, in order to alleviate the suffering of people and to protect or rehabilitate property.”Parts of ...