A drainage project near Weslaco meant to move water away from the area is now causing flooding problems for some homeowners, according to residents.

The southwest drain is located near South Pleasantview Drive and Mile 5 North. Homeowners say an expansion of the channel has made flooding worse, not better.

Homeowner Alfredo Castillo says water filled his backyard after heavy rain Monday. A line stretching across his fence shows how high the water rose.

"Sometime around November last year they came in and what they did is they expanded the canal," Castillo said.

Castillo believes the expansion changed how water drains near his home. He says water that used to flow toward the ditch is now getting trapped on his property.

"They've created a dam, a reservoir, whatever you want to call it. So now we don't have that water runoff," Castillo said. "So now the problem of the water raising more than a foot or two possibly into our houses has gotten worse."

His neighbor Margarita Pedraza shares the same concern.

"Because it comes inside, it gets really high when it's got no place to go. So it comes down to my house and it'll come in – that's a big problem," Pedraza said.

Pedraza has lived in the area for more than 60 years. She is worried about what could happen as hurricane season continues.

"We’re going to have a lot of water; we'll get flooded without any drainage or anything," Pedraza said.

Channel 5 News brought the concerns to Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1, which owns and maintains the drainage ditch.

General Manager Raul Sesin confirmed the district recently widened the southwest drain.

"Southwest drain is one of the ditches that we widened and improved for better capacity and flow. It's one of the major arteries that Weslaco has to flow southeast into the IBWC floodway," Sesin said.

Sesin said the project is functioning as intended. He said water is not designed to flow over the banks of the ditch because that can create erosion problems.

"That can create a worse scenario for us when we have the heavy rain and even the maintainability of that system will be a challenge if that happens," Sesin said.

Sesin acknowledged the district has received complaints from property owners about water getting into their properties.

"We're definitely going to evaluate the complaints that came in and come up with a solution, most likely some inline drains or something to try to move that water into the system," Sesin said.

Castillo is urging officials to take a closer look before the next major rain event.

"Listen to the people. I understand your projects are very important, especially for the city and the county, but when you don't understand the side effects that you're going to cause on some of the projects you're working on there's something missing," Castillo said.

Watch the video above for the full story.