Wednesday, July 1, 2009

San Pedro hit by flooding

Water line breaks after Sunday deluge

Gerald Garner Jr. El Defensor Chieftain Editor

A pair of summer storms collided over southern Socorro County on Sunday, and dumped heavy rains that caused significant flash flooding.

The deluge — concentrated over San Pedro some 10 miles south of Socorro — dropped an estimated 2.5 inches of rain over 90-minute period, which caused flash flooding south of Highway 380 and east of the Rio Grande.

Socorro County Emergency Management Officer Fred Hollis said Sunday's powerful storms caused significant damage to a water well that supplies San Pedro's residents with water.

"We saw that a storm had come in from the east and hung over San Pedro then another storm collided with that one and really started to pour," Hollis said. "It caused some flash flooding activity that washed out the community's main water line."

Hollis said an estimated 80 feet of line washed out as a result of the flooding, which left area residents without water while county staffers worked to close valves and isolate the leak.

"The water carved a channel 4 feet deep by about 150 to 200 feet long," Hollis said. "The residents of the area had their water restored within about an hour."

The line, Hollis explained, is the main water line to San Pedro's 100,000-gallon tank. Sunday's leak saw all of the tank's water wash away.

"It's pretty bad," Hollis said. "It's going to take some work to get the line repaired."

In addition to replacing the damaged line, Hollis said there's much dirt work to be done.

"We've got to get in there, replace the line and we'll be hauling a lot of dirt in to fill that gaping hole," Hollis said. "We should hopefully get things back up and running by the end of the week."

In the meantime, Hollis said water tanks from nearby San Antonio are being used to deliver water to the affected homes.

Silt Clogs Bosquecito Road

Sunday's fast-moving water also caused headaches for motorists in the Bosquecito area.

"We had the low-water crossing into Bosquecito running pretty good Sunday afternoon," Hollis said. "It halted traffic for a couple of hours."

That delay, Hollis said, was due to the fact that the runoff from the flooding carried silt which settled in the crossing, making passage impossible.

Art Gonzales of the Socorro County Road Department was out Sunday and bladed the crossing. The road work was ongoing as of Chieftain press time.

"The county's road department went out Monday and today and were dozing the crossing to ensure that it's safe for residents to cross," Hollis said Tuesday, June 20.

Data from the Weather Wunderground Web site (www.wunderground.com) reveals that 2.42 inches of rain fell at the nearby Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

Hollis said while the damage was fairly severe, it could have been much worse.

"In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't too bad," he said of the damage. "It had the potential for being a lot worse."

ggarner@dchieftain.com

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version