Residents Unsure Drainage Fixes Work
Residents in the Upper Valley want to know why their neighborhoods still get flooded when it rains, despite new stormwater drains.
The City of El Paso has been working on the Upper Valley Drainage Improvement Project for about four years. It roughly encompasses Redd Road from Doniphan to Montoya and all of the improvements to Redd Road are completed, but the city still has construction in surrounding neighborhoods.
Despite all of the work, following Sunday’s rain storm, residents there had to deal with major flooding. In some areas, the water was almost two feet high.
The city says that’s because they are working on the last phase of the drainage improvement project and the drainage system there is not working at full capacity, hence the flooding. Julie Baldwin, a city spokeswoman said the project should be completed in December, and flooding should come to a halt then. The project is actually two months ahead of schedule.
But 5 months is too long to wait, especially during the upcoming Monsoon season, for resident Becky Schneider. “We went through this construction project, it was over a year, it was a nightmare, were all excited about having our new drainage, because we lived through the flood of 2006. And quite frankly, after last night’s rain, it’s not much better”, she said.
“All of that money we spent, what’s going on?”, asked Patricia De La Garza, another resident. The City of El Paso is spending $15.6 million on street and drainage improvements in the area and they say all of the construction will save the neighborhood from exactly what is happening now – flooding.
The ABC-7 I-team also checked on Doniphan Road. El Paso Water Utilities spokeswoman Christina Montoya said they are working on an improvement project from Mesa and Doniphan, all the way to the area Doniphan hits Anapra. She said they are studying their options to prevent flooding on the street. One of the ideas already discussed is expanding the channel that runs adjacent to Doniphan, but they are still looking into other possibilities. The project is scheduled to go to bid next Spring.
