Piedras Negras, Coahuila
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Piedras Negras is a city in Coahuila, Mexico, located at Template:Coor dm. It is a border settlement, standing on the southern bank of the Río Bravo (Rio Grande), across the river from the town of Eagle Pass, Texas, USA, In 2003 Piedras Negras had an estimated population of 132,900 people.
The city was founded in 1849. It was renamed Ciudad Porfirio Díaz in 1888, in homage to President Porfirio Díaz, but it reverted to its original name following the Mexican Revolution.
The Spanish words Piedras Negras translate as "black rocks" – a reference to the coal deposits that exist in the area. Across the river, coal was formerly mined on the US side at Dolchburg, near Eagle Pass, in a mine that closed around 1905 after a fire. Mexico currently operates a large coal-fired power plant named "Carbón 2" near Piedras Negras.
On 4 April 2004, the Río Escondido (a tributary of the Río Bravo) broke its banks and some 80 residents of the Piedras Negra area were killed by or disappeared in the resulting flash floods. See: BBC coverage (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3601569.stm).