Volume 8 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.650259 This article is part of the Research TopicThe Biology and Management of Chronic Diseases in Mexican AmericansView all 7 articles Frailty is the age-related decline in well-being The Frailty index (FI) measures the accumulation of health deficits and reflects biopsychosocial and cultural determinants of well-being Frailty is measured as a static phenotype or as a Frailty Index comprising a ratio of suffered health deficits and total deficits We report a Frailty Index calculated from routinely measured clinical variables gathered from residents of two Colonias (neighborhoods) in South Texas We analyzed retrospective data from 894 patients that live in two Colonias located on the Texas-Mexico border We calculated the FI with seven physiological variables and the 11 domain-specific Duke Profile scores for a total of 19 possible health deficits FI against age separately in males (n = 272) and females (n = 622) was regressed Females had a significantly higher starting frailty and males had a significantly greater change rate with age FI against age for Cameron Park Colonia and Indian Hills Colonia was regressed We calculated a significantly higher starting FI in Indian Hills and a significantly greater change rate in Cameron Park residents Frailty's contributors are complex We report baseline Frailty Index data from two Colonias in South Texas and the clinical and research implications The Frailty Index's flexibility applied to a population can identify deficits unique to the region served These Colonias are identified as “green” (low public health risk) and “yellow” (intermediate risk with inadequate city services Demographic characteristics of this self-selected cross-sectional cohort and description of services provided are reported in earlier work completed by our research team (31) The purpose of our community case study is to describe a Frailty Index calculated from data routinely collected by primary care teams We then use the Frailty Index to identify contributors to Frailty in predominantly Mexican American Communities residing on the Texas-Mexico border The results can be used to design future research on the development of a clinical Frailty Index and identify interventions to reduce Frailty in vulnerable populations The protocol was approved by the University of Texas Institutional Review Board VIDAS (Valley Interprofessional Dedicated Access and Service) was funded through a grant to develop a Colonia Care Program VIDAS's clinical arm serves to unite the region by building a consortium of professionals collaborating as a team to create a healthcare model for the community's most vulnerable members The UniMóvil mobile clinic was created to address access to healthcare across the Colonias throughout the region The UniMóvil provides care in two Colonias Cameron Park was selected as the representative “green” Colonia because of a long history of an established indigent care model and the proximity to the Mexico border that facilitates ready access to affordable healthcare in Mexico was chosen because of the location (distance from the border and poor healthcare access) The interprofessional team works with existing resources and services to augment care and develop a multi-system healthcare service Logistic regression analysis and factor component analysis were used to determine potential associations between clinical variables and candidate predictor variables and seven physiological health variables and two survey instruments: The PHQ-9 surveys and the Duke Health-Related-Quality-of-Life survey consisting of 11 domains The FI was computed over the seven physiological variables and the 11 domain-specific Duke scores for a total of 19 possible variables We used the seven physiological health variables, 17 item scores of the Duke Health Profile, and the PHQ-9 score to calculate the FI. Regressions of the Frailty Index against age were performed in subsamples of males, females, Cameron Park patients, and Indian Hills patients. We assessed the difference between males and females and between Colonias, using the difference between slope and intercept tests (35) we examined the difference between the vectors of means for all the variables considered by way of Hotelling's T2 given as the squared difference of mean vectors scaled against the sample covariance matrix while taking sample size differences into account Hotelling's T2 was computed and then transformed into an F-statistic for statistical inference in r (Version 3.2.3) Total and sex-specific prevalence statistics for clinical outcomes Duke health profile by total and sex-specific samples Differences between means between cameron park and Indian hills The plot of the difference of means as calculated by hoteling T2 is the squared difference of mean vectors scaled against the co-variance matrix for age (yrs) Above zero reflects a higher Cameron Park (red) and below zero reflects a higher Indian Hills Value (orange) Triglyceride means do not fit on the graph and are defined by the means across Colonia Differences of means between males and females Above zero reflects a higher male value (red) and below zero reflects a higher female value (orange) Triglyceride means do not fit on the graph and are defined by the means across gender Frailty increases with age and peaks between the ages of 40 and 60 years (Figure 3). The proportion of patients with a non-zero Frailty Index increased significantly (p < 0.001) from the younger to older age groups (20–45 vs. 46–93). The initial Frailty Index for women is higher than men, but as men age, they decline faster than women (Supplementary Figure 1) The mean Frailty Index for women is higher than that for men (p < 0.01) which is consistent with their significantly different mean vectors as inferred from the Hotelling's T-squared result (p < 0.001) Proportion of FI = 0 and FI greater than zero The proportion of patients with a non-zero Frailty Index increased significantly (p < 0.001) from the younger to other age groups (20–45 vs The Frailty Index in Indian Hills remained stable with increasing age (Supplementary Figure 2) when compared to Cameron Park (p < 0.001) and the Frailty Index was significantly higher in Cameron Park (p < 0.02) consistent with their significantly different mean vector (p < 0.001) We developed a Frailty Index calculated with 19 variables from two surveys (Health-related Quality of Life and Depression) and seven clinical measurements We chose the seven clinical measurements and the two surveys because they are evidence-based screening metrics routinely used in primary care to evaluate for health and quality of life The prevalence of chronic disease in the region is high The residents from Cameron Park Colonia are older and hyperlipidemia and hypertension are more prevalent in this population than in Indian Hills Colonia The prevalence of diabetes and obesity (high) are similar in both Colonias A cross-sectional representation of residents of Indian Hills demonstrated little change of Frailty with age whereas Frailty increased dramatically with age in the more established Cameron Park with the peak frailty index scores occurring between 40 and 60 years of age Cameron Park is located on the US-Mexico border and is within the boundaries of the city of Brownsville The proximity of Cameron Park to the border means that many residents can find affordable healthcare a few minutes away in Mexico most residents live in constructed houses rather than manufactured homes and life in Indian Hills are more problematic and most residents live in trailers and make-shift housing without central air conditioning The Frailty Index was calculated against age Indian Hills had a significantly higher starting frailty while Cameron Park had a significantly greater change rate with age We propose living in a Colonia located within a city exposes residents to worse food choices The rate of decline in Frailty in Cameron Park may be related to social factors and increased availability of high caloric foods Residents of Indian Hills may retain a more traditional diet than Cameron Park Perhaps living day-to-day forces residents in Indian Hills to ration their money The Frailty Index can be used to identify at-risk patients that live in vulnerable environments Those residents who score high in depression or low in domains of quality of life and suffer from obesity and depression may be identified earlier and focused interventions provided at the healthcare and public health level The Frailty Index is easy to calculate with evidence-based data routinely collected The findings in this report are subject to several limitations and the community case study represents a picture of what is going on in the Colonias The acute decline of Frailty in men could be related to early death and decreased healthcare access and there may be other contributors (social and biological) that influence decline to frailty the variables used to calculate may be insufficient to measure Frailty in our population Evidence-based research is required to determine the significant contributors to Frailty and determine a causal link Patients seeking care through a mobile clinic serving Colonias in South Texas suffer from a high prevalence of diabetes The Frailty Index is suggested by the US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations for Primary Care Practice as a measure and is a good predictor of Frailty Although social determinants of health and health equity are strong predictors of chronic disease it is essential to study how these stressors affect immigrants living in underserved areas Life stressors for vulnerable populations contribute to increased Frailty with age and the variables are biopsychosocial based The prevalence of chronic disease and depression in our region is epidemic Hispanic patients that seek healthcare from a mobile clinic serving Colonias in South Texas suffer from high rates of diabetes and they score poorly on health-related quality of life measures such as residents of the Colonias of the US-Mexico border These preliminary data can serve as background evidence to design future research to incorporate stressors and social support in examining those who become frail Although social determinants of health and health equity are strong predictors of risk for chronic disease it is crucial to study how these stressors affect minority residents and immigrants living in medically underserved areas provides information for the accumulation of deficits and may help clinicians to focus on interventions to prevent eventual Frailty The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found below: manusov, eron (2021), “Mobile Medical Van in the South Texas Colonias”, Mendeley Data, V2, 10.17632/zz2b3wdf5r.2 The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Institutional Review Board The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study EM was the Principal Investigator on the United Health Foundation grant and was substantially involved in editing the manuscript VD analyzed data and completed the statistical analysis SW-B analyzed data and was substantially involved in editing All authors listed have made a substantial direct and intellectual contribution to the work A grant from the United Health Foundation funded the UniMóvil project The financial sponsors played no role in interpreting data and did not participate in writing the manuscript The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher We acknowledge the support of all members of STITCH the relentless clinical work of Linda Nelson and the tireless efforts of the staff of the UniMóvil Dan Limbago of the United Health Foundation for support of our efforts to care for the vulnerable population of the Rio Grande Valley We thank the residents of Cameron Park and Indian Hills for their collaboration in this study The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.650259/full#supplementary-material Cardiovascular health study collaborative research group frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype Heterogeneity of human aging and its assessment CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Aging as a process of deficit accumulation: its utility and origin PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Frailty index as a predictor of mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis An assessment of neurocognitive speed in relation to frailty Validation of a frailty index in older cancer patients with solid tumours Frailty screening tools for elderly patients incident to dialysis Clinical frailty scale and outcome after coronary artery bypass grafting Understanding risk in the oldest old: frailty and the metabolic syndrome in a chinese community sample aged 90+ years Frailty in older Mexican-American and European-American adults: is there an ethnic disparity Frailty prevalence and neighborhood residence in older Mexican Americans: the San Antonio longitudinal study of aging Lower frailty incidence in older Mexican Americans than in older European Americans: the San Antonio longitudinal study of aging Frailty transitions in the san antonio longitudinal study of aging The Hispanic paradox and predictors of mortality in an aging biethnic cohort of Mexican Americans and European Americans: the san antonio longitudinal study of aging A frailty index to predict the mortality risk in a population of senior Mexican adults Socioeconomic status as a moderator between frailty and mortality at old ages frailty and prognosis in very elderly patients with acute coronary syndromes Socioeconomic inequalities in frailty among older adults: results from a 10-year longitudinal study in the Netherlands Frailty in elderly people with chronic kidney disease Frailty among community-dwelling elderly Mexican people: prevalence and association with sociodemographic characteristics health state and the use of health services Male sex and poverty predict abrupt health decline: Deficit accumulation patterns and trajectories in the KORA-Age cohort study and subjective well-being: A moderated mediation analysis in elderly Chinese Conceptualisation and measurement of frailty in elderly people Frailty in relation to the accumulation of deficits PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A brief clinical instrument to classify frailty in elderly people Changes in relative fitness and frailty across the adult lifespan: evidence from the Canadian National Population Health Survey Health and quality of life within Colonias settlements along the United States and Mexico border 30. 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Available online at: https://www.dallasfed.org//~media/microsites/cd/colonias/index.html Google Scholar UniMóvil: a mobile health clinic providing primary care to the Colonias of the Rio Grande Valley A health survey of a colonia located on the west Texas A 17-item measure of health and dysfunction The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure Statistical comparison of the slopes of two regression lines: A tutorial PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar and morbidity affect aging rate in the LLFS Application of indices of cumulative deficits Gender-associated factors for frailty and their impact on hospitalization and mortality among community-dwelling older adults: a cross-sectional population-based study Munoz-Monaco G and Williams-Blangero S (2021) Frailty Index in the Colonias on the US-Mexico Border: A Special Report Received: 06 January 2021; Accepted: 14 July 2021; Published: 18 August 2021 Copyright © 2021 Manusov, Gomez De Ziegler, Diego, Munoz-Monaco and Williams-Blangero. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Eron G. Manusov, ZXJvbi5tYW51c292QHV0cmd2LmVkdQ== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Please email comments to [email protected] spending Holy Week with a community of Jesuits who minister to migrants throughout the Rio Grande Valley tidy house in the colonia of Cameron Park that they’ve named for Miguel Pro the joyful Jesuit martyr executed during Mexico’s Cristero War Our car inches across Gateway International Bridge toward Matamoros have transformed border cities like Matamoros into sites of desperation for migrants driven from home by gang violence and economic collapse The migrant camp first appeared there in 2018 and disbanded in 2021 after the termination of the Trump-era Remain in Mexico program the priests began to hear rumors that the Matamoros camp had reappeared A trans-border network of NGOs and faith-based organizations including Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley collaborated with Mexican authorities to provide access to showers But government officials had lost patience with the camp Prohibited from pitching tents in the plaza thousands are surviving in makeshift shelters down a steep embankment covered with mesquite trees and trash along the muddy bank of the Rio Grande The car is packed full of liturgical things and things made liturgical A monstrance on loan from another church is zipped into the laptop pocket of a backpack and the bells adorning its chains jingle every time we hit a bump The trunk holds other treasures: a stack of bilingual hymnals; metal folding chairs; a suitcase filled with vestments and tiny vials of water and wine; a giant speaker; sliced bread and bags full of grapes; a basket of white pipe-cleaner bracelets that Brian and Louie have strung with craft-store jingle bells for people to ring during the Gloria wooden pallets stacked beneath a twisted mesquite tree become an altar Extension cords run like rivers down from the base of each streetlight and fan out into deltas of cords on cords and Flavio hooks up the speaker to the web of pirated electricity We arrange the folding chairs next to the altar for the washing of the feet At this point we realize we’ve forgotten a critical element: water We hear about a fight that broke out over water the night before but some people say that the water makes them sick “¿Quién tiene agua?” Flavio calls out in a voice that sounds more like an invitation than a request Someone comes forward with their jug and a plastic ladle It’s the ultimate act of generosity—an act of holy waste anointing people’s feet with it one ladle at a time A grinning seven-year-old girl hops into the chair first wiggling off her shoes and swinging her legs A young woman with a toddler takes the seat beside her and the people around her help remove the little boy’s shoes as she removes her own People dig trenches around their tents to try to divert the water but nothing can stop the rain from lashing apart shelters the road into Matamoros is flooded and chaotic people stand huddled with their arms pulled into their shirts A mother named Yanetzy sits on an overturned bucket her three-year-old daughter curled in a damp blanket on her lap Yanetzy’s cherry-red hair is streaked with brown and I can tell how long ago she left home in Venezuela by how far her roots have grown out All I can think is that she is the most tired person I have ever seen This morning a woman finally received her cita—her appointment for asylum processing by border patrol Asylum-seekers are required to use a smartphone app called CBP One to request entry into the United States The system is effectively a lottery: every day at 10 a.m. migrants enter their information into the glitchy app in the hopes of securing a coveted appointment at a port of entry with no other choice but to try again the next day Louie and Flavio had packed the car with a stack of flattened cardboard boxes that had been accumulating against their kitchen wall they spread the boxes on the ground and lean a crucifix retrieved from the trunk against the makeshift altar the priests step forward in silence and flatten their bodies onto the cardboard on top of the mud they press their faces into the same unforgiving ground on which everyone else has spent a sleepless night The liturgy ends with a via crucis through the middle of the camp The procession winds up the mud-slicked hill and into the flooded street and into the plaza at the foot of the international bridge We carry a ten-foot cross that a man in the camp has built from two giant pieces of scrap wood He wants to know if he can keep the cardboard for the floor of his tent The bishop has given the Jesuits permission to celebrate the Easter Vigil early so on Saturday we leave for Matamoros after lunch There is a stainless-steel mixing bowl covered with a baking sheet on the floor of the passenger seat and I’m instructed to make sure it doesn’t tip over “Epsom salt and rubbing alcohol,” Louie explains before I have a chance to inquire about the science experiment at my feet CPB One is giving everyone the same error message: “You must be near the southwest border of the United States to make an appointment at a port of entry.” The app uses geolocation to require that users be north of Mexico City to apply Any closer to the border and we would all be in the water The app isn’t the only thing malfunctioning The electricity isn’t working in the usual spot A group of men across the way summon us over to their electrical strip A man offers to hold the towering scrap-wood cross and we stand in a circle in the middle of the camp and silky red flames erupt from the ground between us He lowers a candle into the paschal fire and raises it to the sky falling into a procession behind the Easter candle We light our candles from the flame and splotches of wax fall like raindrops onto the gray-brown earth children playing on the hillside decide to become a band of altar servers and they are visibly enthralled to discover that their newly assumed responsibilities include retrieving the smoldering thurible from the tree branch where it hangs Then he walks to the front of the altar to bless the people gently swinging the thurible before each person who sometimes ask the question that any rational person faced with reality asks: What good are candles and incense and bells when people are starving I usually reply that we would do well to be suspicious of the capitalist assumption that prayer is only for people who can afford things I see now that the real answer is whatever I just witnessed when the last fire burns itself out and the last mesquite tree falls and the final light goes out when the rain washes away the trash and the mud and the shit and the last bridge is crossed and the last detention center closed and Christ who died and rose comes again Susan Bigelow Reynolds is assistant professor of Catholic Studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  Attend any grassroots social justice event in the Rio Grande Valley and chances are Mike Seifert helped organize or promote it Seifert is the seemingly tireless organizer for RGV Equal Voice Network a coalition of nonprofits that tackles issues in the region from education to immigration reform and health care “It’s a privilege to be here and work with so many strong leaders almost all of them women living in the colonias They are the ones who really get things done.” Seifert was busy setting up a room at the Harlingen Public Library for a conference on militarization at the border Out-of-state congressional members were in Cameron County to attend a fundraiser for Democratic Congressman Filemon Vela Seifert and RGV had seized the opportunity to educate the elected officials about the negative effects the border security buildup is having on families The recent increases in Border Patrol agents and Texas state troopers’ use of gunboats and spy planes in addition to an already heavily armed federal presence on the border means there are a lot of people with guns near residential areas tells the audience he’s never thought about the issue of border militarization and its impact on communities “I’ve never looked at the immigration reform debate from the militarization point of view,” he says “It was worthwhile enough just for me to be here for that because it’s not something we talk about in New Jersey.” a young community and it’s a mistake for any politician to ignore this region,” he says and those politicians are working on borrowed time.” Border communities also need to participate in elections and engage with their elected officials “It’s a steep climb getting there,” he says “But what keeps me going is the energy of the youth and the wisdom from the veterans.” As a former priest who worked for many years in Mexico and Brownsville’s Cameron Park colonia Seifert says he learned two important things: “You need to be a citizen of the community you are working in,” he says society assigns undeserved credit to people like priests doctors and lawyers when they haven’t earned it.” The 59-year-old has taken those lessons to heart He’s exceedingly humble about his contributions to the Valley “The best thing I can do is stay out of the way,” he jokes chief of pediatrics at the Brownsville Community Health Center the two are a dynamic and potent force in supporting social justice causes in the region and abroad “It’s a privilege to be here,” Seifert says “This is one of the poorest communities in the country but you don’t see homeless people in the streets is a longtime border journalist 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All rights reserved. Site made in collaboration with CMYK Forecasters say Dolly has weakened to a tropical depression with 35 mph winds as it moves north over Texas and was centered about 35 miles south of Eagle Pass at 5 p.m Residents across south Texas slogged through knee-deep muddy waters tiptoed around downed power lines and dug through debris but were thankful that the storm didn't pack the wallop they had feared The downed power lines remained the greatest danger Rain and wind from Dolly probably doomed much of the cotton crop in Texas' Rio Grande Valley Downed power lines remained the greatest danger and officials urged people to stay home one more day "unless it's life or death." One person in Matamoros died after walking past a power line on the ground Residents picked up the pieces of their houses and businesses blown apart by the storm they were struck by relief that the storm didn't take many lives there will be substantial cleanup: President Bush declared south Texas a disaster area to release federal funding to 15 counties and insurance estimators put the losses at $750 million Down by the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville the city that expected the worst had some of the least to fear Residents in the Cameron Park colonia cleared their yards of shingles and tree debris while mosquitoes feasted and residents were thankful the damage wasn't so bad "I thought it was going to be worse than it was," Moses Izaguirre said A group of Harlingen residents battled a live power line lying on the driveway between two homes Neighbors rushed to bang on doors and call for people to get out "Stay out of the water!" a man yelled at children playing in the muddy mix a fire truck arrived minutes after a call to 911 power was restored to large parts of Brownsville's sister city Eugenio Hernandez said the lights would be on by the end of the day Gas stations and factories reopened as about 2,500 police and soldiers patrolled to prevent looting while many of the 13,000 people who had taken shelter returned home After crashing ashore on South Padre Island midday Wednesday leaving towns on the northern tip of the Rio Grande Valley with a surprise Officials had feared the Rio Grande levees would breach but the storm veered from its predicted path and they held strong The river rose steadily Wednesday in Brownsville "We're not experiencing any issues with the levees right now," Sally Spener spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission The storm dumped as much as a foot of rain in places and brought 100 mph winds Those winds had dropped by half Thursday morning and forecasters canceled the tropical storm warning for the Texas coast by late morning The storm was expected to break up by Friday and was centered near Laredo with maximum sustained winds of around 45 mph at 11 a.m authorities rescued about 30 families from high water in Cameron County and power including to the 911 emergency call system remained out to about 60 percent of customers in Hidalgo County "The power grid is not doing too well," said Hidalgo County spokeswoman Cari Lambrecht Rick Perry was scheduled to fly over the region with U.S The community of Laureles north of Los Fresnos had been reduced to a chain of sunken islands separated from the main roads by floodwaters of two feet or more in places wind-swept waters where neighborhood loops met county roads More than 5,000 people moved to public shelters in the three hardest-hit counties and the numbers were expected to grow Thursday as more people became stranded by floodwaters Pena said there were several incidents late Wednesday requiring emergency personnel to rescue people from homes One family was left huddling in their topless house after winds blew the roof off sheriff's deputies rescued a family of eight from Los Fresnos after floodwaters surrounded their home The wind knocked a 17-year-old boy from a seventh-story balcony on South Padre Island leg and a head injury but could not be transported off the island until about 5 p.m The causeway linking the island to the mainland had reopened which came ashore in southeast Texas last September The busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season is usually in August and September Federal forecasters predict a total of 12 to 16 named storms and six to nine hurricanes this season Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Brownsville and Mark Walsh in Matamoros Texas | Residents across south Texas slogged through knee-deep muddy waters tiptoed around downed power lines and dug through debris Thursday but were thankful that Hurricane Dolly didn’t pack the wallop they had feared and South Texas officials urged people to stay home one more day “unless it’s life or death.” One person in Matamoros died from electrocution after walking past a power line on the ground they were struck by relief that the storm didn’t take many lives Rain and wind from Dolly probably doomed much of the cotton crop in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley About 92,000 acres of cotton in the region was awaiting harvest but driving rains and high winds knocked bolls to the ground Texas Agri Life Extension agent Rod Santa Ana said Sorghum acres damaged by rain in early July also could be doomed and was centered about 30 miles northwest of Laredo with maximum sustained winds of around 40 mph at 2 p.m A remnant on Thursday blew several roofs off houses and businesses on San Antonio’s south side about 300 miles northwest of where the storm made landfall There were no immediate reports of injuries and the National Weather Service sent a storm survey team to determine whether it was a tornado or strong winds and residents were thankful the damage wasn’t so bad “I thought it was going to be worse than it was,” Moses Izaguirre said A group of Harlingen residents battled a flaming live power line lying on the driveway between two homes “Stay out of the water!” a man yelled at children playing in the muddy mix curfew was set for the second night in row and the National Guard and FEMA were distributing ice Residents and visitors recalled a wild ride rode out Hurricane Dolly with five friends on a 65-foot double-decker party boat moored at the south end of South Padre Island “It was throwing us around like a beanbag,” The thrashing began at 9 a.m the strip of water between the mainland and the island North Texas residents Becky Wacasey and her husband rode out the storm in their room at the South Padre Island Beach Resort hotel which had many of its sliding glass doors blown out and it appeared some tourists had barricaded broken windows by standing box springs in the openings “We kept saying ’where’s the eye?’ because that’s when we were going to leave but the eye never came,” Wacasey said “We thought it was just going to be a little tropical storm.” power was restored to large parts of Brownsville’s sister city “The power grid is not doing too well,” said Hidalgo County spokeswoman Cari Lambrecht Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Brownsville Betsey Blaney in Lubbock and Mark Walsh in Matamoros