Storm hits Pecos melons

May 21--Monday's storm in Coyanosa devastated the crops of Mandujano Brothers Produce and will likely mean a shortage of their famed cantaloupes this summer, said Tony Mandujano, one of the three brothers who co-own the business.

The storm that began at about 7 p.m. Monday brought flooding, hail and high winds to the town, the hardest hit so far in the Permian Basin as more storms continue to roll through the area.

The Mandujano's crop losses included watermelon and onion, but he said cantaloupes were the hardest hit.

"It's not looking good," Mandujano said in an interview on Wednesday, as he made the rounds on the business' farms to gauge the scope of the losses. "There's a lot of damage, probably 60 to 70 percent. It's hard to tell right now. But there was not much spared."

Scattered stories of crop losses from farmers emerged from Coyanosa as local authorities and the National Weather Service by mid-week were still determining the damage.

No injuries were reported in the Monday storm despite weather service reports of a tornado that touched for two minutes about four miles east of Toyah Lake and of hail up to two inches in diameter.

There was a water rescue and some minor property damage, along with major damage to a vacant mobile home, said Pecos County's emergency management coordinator, Jessie Dominguez, who also serves as a deputy and an assistant fire chief in Fort Stockton.

But "major flooding in some of the crops" proved the worst of the fallout, Dominguez said. And by Wednesday, the account from Mandujano Brothers Produce stood out as the worst to emerge.

Mandujano estimated most of the cantaloupes growing on 250 acres were destroyed during the storm, although there remained a "slim chance" the plants could survive the floods. Typically, the business farms about 500 acres of cantaloupe a year.

This year, they began planting seeds of the fruit in mid-March. That meant the first of the harvest was due in about 30 days, when Mandujano Brothers Produce ramp up their employees from about 20 to more than 120 workers.

Many of those workers, longtime helpers of the farm, will likely be cut, Mandujano said. But he cautioned Wednesday it was too early to say how many.

"It's going to be a lot less work," Mandujano said.

The cantaloupe acreage that survived had been recently planted or had yet to be, Mandujano said. Each of the 250 acres that by Wednesday appeared decimated from the storm produces roughly 40,000 pounds of cantaloupe in a typical season.

That puts the estimated loss of the fruit at about 10 million pounds. The brothers will have to absorb most of that loss with insurance expected to cover little, but they expect the business will survive the blow, Mandujano said.

They planned to replant. But with cantaloupe production delayed at least 70 days, they expected to miss the peak demand of the summer and scale back.

"It definitely ruins your season," Mandujano said. He described the Monday storm as the worst since his father planted cantaloupes in the area during the 1980s.

The fruit, grown along the Pecos River, is known for an extra sweetness.

Distributors who buy the fruit include companies in major metros such as Dallas and Houston. Locally, they include Walmart and Lowe's Markets. (Other grocery stores in the area will still sell cantaloupes grown elsewhere).

"You'll have stuff probably in August, but there's going to be a shortage," Mandujano said, estimating there might be enough for just their stand in Pecos County. "Early on, there isn't going to be much cantaloupe. We are the only ones that grow cantaloupe out here really. It's a pretty demanding production. It's bad."

Mandujano Brothers Produce began in 1997 and the business' farms stretch some 30 miles. The area hit hardest was about four miles south of Coyanosa, Mandujano said.

Other crops Mandujano feared were likely killed by flooding included 100 acres of onions and 60 acres of watermelon, but he said they should have enough watermelon to sell when demand spikes during the Fourth of July.

One field of cantaloupe was "totally gone," he said. Another lost some 90 percent.

"You go around and check, hoping for the best but expecting the worst," Mandujano said.

Cotton farmers including the Coyanosa Co-op Gin and Elmer Braden suffered damage to their crops but said they fared better than the cantaloupe growers and some of the other farmers in the area, who grow produce such as chili peppers and onions.

The co-op's General Manager Becky Chavarria, for example, said cotton had been planted for less than a week on about 1,000 acres.

That represented well under a quarter of their crop, she said, and it remains early enough in the season to replant and receive a reimbursement under an insurance program with their seed provider.

"The plans were to start this week," Chavarria said. "Luckily, most of them hadn't."

"Potentially severe" storms are expected to continue through the weekend in the Permian Basin from a system moving from the Pacific Ocean, through California and the Four Corners area, "kicking out energy into West Texas," said Andrew Arnold, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Midland.

The weather service expected thunderstorms and reported the possibility of tornados. A West Texas storm on Tuesday that spared the Coyanosa area saw at least four tornados touchdown as the system traveled from near McCamey and Crane south into Terrell County.

No damage had been reported from those tornados as of Wednesday and Arnold said there is only a "marginal risk" there will be more this week, even though predicting them is difficult.

The bigger concern at weather service was flooding, warning drivers to turn away from high waters instead of attempting to cross. And the Texas Department of Public Safety joined other emergency responders in warning travelers to watch the weather during the Memorial Day weekend.

The weather service forecast calls for continued chances of rain in Coyanosa through Sunday, with the greatest likelihood on Thursday, with a chance of precipitation at 60 percent. But Arnold said it appeared likely none would be as severe as the one that struck the town on Monday.

"They could very well just get more rain throughout this week," Arnold said. "And that seems to be the case for the majority of the area here in the Permian Basin and the Trans-Pecos area."

Contact Corey Paul on Twitter @OAcrude on Facebook at OA Corey Paul or call 432-333-7768.

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