IBC Bank partners with Red Cross, opens flood relief account ...

IBC Bank sent this information out Wednesday morning:

IBC Bank, in partnership with the American Red Cross, is helping the residents of Texas and Oklahoma affected by recent extraordinary flooding. An account has been set up at the bank where the public can make donations to the Disaster Relief Fund to help those displaced by the floods. IBC Bank has started off this account with an initial donation of $5,000.

Anyone can visit any IBC branch and inform their teller they wish to contribute to the Red Cross Account (#2111404268). Donations can be made with cash or check.

You can also use your mobile phone to text "Red Cross" to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross.

Help people affected by disasters like the current flood by donating to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. On those rare occasions when donations exceed Red Cross expenses for a specific disaster, contributions are used to prepare for and serve victims of other disasters.

Downtown slowly comes back to life ...

I was out Tuesday morning, walking around downtown Laredo to get a feel for shoppers and traffic moving through that business corridor.

A couple of merchants I spoke with had similar viewpoints. One said the traffic of people in the store hasn't been really good. Another said traffic has been slow at his store since reopening after the Rio Grande flood.

One shopper was having items she purchased put into the trunk of her car. She commented that for a Tuesday morning around 10 a.m., things looked pretty normal to her.

There will be more information on how downtown Laredo is rebounding business wise in this post-flood time later at www.lmtonline.com.

Downtown businesses close doors Thursday ...

Many downtown Laredo stores closed their doors Thursday as their main customers from Mexico were not able to cross the Rio Grande.

"While I don’t have hard numbers on this, I imagine that 90 percent of the business for downtown merchants comes from International Bridge I mainly in the form of pedestrian traffic," said Miguel Conchas, Laredo Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer.

"Of course, it’s a disaster and the bridge has to be closed," Conchas said, "yet it has a direct impact on downtown business."

Les Norton, Downtown Merchants Association president, said he’s been out of town since Sunday yet is aware that his store, La Fama, closed its doors by mid-afternoon Thursday.

"I think most stores were closing for Thursday," Norton said. "Most everybody else closed because employees could not get over from Mexico and customers are not being able to come over as well."

Conchas said he received a call from Walmart asking about how long the flooding will impact the area and if the Chamber of Commerce has a feel for the number of people from Nuevo Laredo staying on the Laredo side.

"I said that I don’t have numbers on how many people may be over here," Conchas said. "Some family members of close friends of mine came across on Wednesday before they closed down Bridge I.

"Large stores are trying to resupply so they have sufficient supplies available for the public," he said. "From what I heard at Thursday’s Laredo Development Foundation meeting, commercial traffic is still going across World Trade Bridge.

"But I heard from a customs broker that access into Nuevo Laredo and Eagle Pass has been affected by the flooding," he said. "Many of the roads in Mexico have been damaged because of the flooding, so that creates a problem for commercial traffic."

Norton said the scary thing about this flood "is whether we’ve seen the worst or if it’s going to get worse. I guess it’s the fear of the unknown."

For ongoing Rio Grande flood updates, follow our coverage at www.lmtonline.com.