Northeast Doa Ana County floods again; residents want answers

When two separate thunderstorms pummeled northeast Doña Ana County on Wednesday, residents say they expected the flooding, but not the severe damage.

“It’s never come into my house,” said Anna Medina. “Never. This is the first time.”

Medina, who told ABC-7 she’s lived in the area for 35 years, said she had two inches of stormwater throughout her home.

One area hit particularly hard was the entire stretch of Longhorn Drive near U.S. 70. In total, 2.6 inches of rain fell in close to 50 minutes, according to an ABC-7 storm watcher.

“I’m feeling distraught,” Medina said. “In the past two years, we’ve been having fights with the county, but apparently, they never do anything about it.”

“If they’ve lived here ten or twenty years, they know we have a patchwork of development out there,” said Jess Williams, a spokesman for the county. “Some of the developments are right in the arroyos. When you get heavy rain on the mountain or near those communities, the water goes very fast.”

Williams said the county has identified $6 billion worth of needs to fix flood zones throughout Doña Ana County, including areas like Vado, La Union, Hatch and the East Mesa.

“We have to take a strategized, prioritized approach to flood control all over the county,” Williams said.

“It went from a nice dry thing to a raging river,” said David Ward, who has lived the East Mesa for a decade. “I actually called the emergency number and… I think the response time was probably about an hour and twenty minutes.”

“Obviously, if there are many, many people calling in, then there are many, many responses to make,” Williams said. “It doesn’t surprise me that perhaps one response would take that long.”

Williams acknowledged that the Organ Fire Department in district 5 ran out of sandbags. He urged residents from all over the county to be prepared for flash floods in their neighborhoods at all times.

“Know that it can happen; be prepared for it,” Williams said. “The East Mesa always has been problematic. It probably always will during my lifetime. Know where you live, know where the water likes to flow and be prepared for it.”