Fence or deck costs in Brownsville

Brownsville is a fairly dry place in a normal year. NOAA's 1991–2020 normals give the airport about 27 inches of rain annually. Then a storm arrives and drops a big share of that at once. On July 23, 2008, Hurricane Dolly put 6.68 inches on Brownsville in one day. By the next morning the month's total stood at 13.20 inches, nearly 4 inches above the city's all-time July record, and the storm ended a drought across the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Dolly's tropical-storm-force winds reached all but one county the local weather office covers, and the damage report says it left some damage just about everywhere, from downed limbs and power lines to blown-down signs and fences. Its rain filled resacas and arroyos and flooded low spots with poor drainage.

That's the swing a fence here has to live with: long dry stretches, then ground that's soaked for days and wind pushing on every panel. Plan for the bad day, not the average one. On a solid privacy fence, heavier posts set closer together help it ride out a storm, and a style with small gaps lets some wind through. If your lot sits low or backs onto a resaca, keep deck framing well above the dirt so it can dry out between rains.