About 100 buoys that the federal government planned to install as anti-immigration deterrents near Eagle Pass drifted into the Rio Grande, prompting officials to close two key bridges along the U.S.-Mexico border for about three hours, reopening them just after midnight Friday.

Eagle Pass shut down transit at the bridges while it worked to determine whether the buoys posed a threat, City Manager Homero Balderas said. About 9,000 vehicles cross both bridges daily, transiting between Eagle Pass and Las Piedras.

“The bridges are the number one funding source for the city,” Balderas said, adding the wayward buoys didn’t immediately endanger the bridges. “So it is very detrimental. Luckily, we were able to temporarily close, just to make sure that there were no safety concerns with the buoys floating downriver and obviously passing under the bridges.”

River levels at the Rio Grande began rising Thursday and are expected to crest at moderate stage around 7 p.m. Friday after relentless rain pummeled the Hill Country and parts of southeast Texas, according to a National Weather Service forecast.

About 600 of the buoys were staged near the riverbank north of Eagle Pass and south of Del Rio as part of a project that began three to four months ago, Balderas said, adding he was unaware when the federal government planned to deploy them.

State Rep. Eddie Morales Jr., D-Eagle Pass, said on social media that personnel had already begun removing the adrift buoys. Shipping containers and temporary fencing had been removed from Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, as well as round buoys in the Rio Grande, before the river rose, Morales said.

In a statement, Morales said the buoys created “more unnecessary obstacles for first responders.”

“I have always been opposed to these buoys because I did not believe they would be effective and now we are seeing even more consequences,” he said. “There is deep concern not just with the buoys, but the hundreds of miles of razor wire that may have been dislodged from the riverbank as well. We should begin to have the necessary conversations about removing these barriers and return to a sense of normalcy to our communities, while ensuring our border is both safe and secure.”

The Texas Tribune has reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.