Rain damage on Swede Johnsen leaves street in ruins
The rains are long gone but the mess remains for one West El Paso neighborhood. Swede Johnsen street off Helen of Troy is not only filled with dust and debris, a chunk of the street was swept away.
“She said it was like a hurricane,” said resident Mike Misic.
A thirsty West El Paso got more than its fill Friday evening. Warm temps over the weekend dried up the gallons of gushing waters left behind, revealing a Swede Johnsen in ruins.
“Basically every time we get a hard rain, it floods, bad,” Misic said.
Misic has lived in this neighborhood four years, and already five time his street has had a hard time recuperating from rain. This time though, neighbors would need more than brooms. The city had to get involved.
“It was a tremendous amount of rain that got in that area and fell underneath the pavement and destroyed it,” said City of El Paso maintenance Director Ted Marquez.
Swede Johnsen’s road is built on dirt and rocks making it easy for water to get underneath the surface and break the asphalt apart. But in places where it didn’t just break apart, its actually make the road crumble, putting one resident’s house on edge.
Misic is frustrated by the design of the street.
“The drainage grates that we have aren’t sufficient for the amount of water that we get,” Misic said.
The city is first going to make sure there was no damage to the utilities, then are planning to start repairs in the coming weeks. City Rep. Peter Swarzbien said he is putting together a task force to survey the damage and prevent it going forward.
