ABC-7 Xtra: Raging Borderland floodwaters reminiscent of 2006 storms

El PASO, Texas -- Storms like the ones the Borderland has been experiencing this month are all too common these days, with a deluge of several inches of storm water raging down roads and taking out anything it its path.

What has happened this month was darkly reminiscent for El Pasoans of the 2006 storms, which is the topic of Sunday’s ABC-7 Xtra with host Saul Saenz at 10:35 p.m.

El Pasoans witnessed storm water raging like rivers in west El Paso, upending vehicles and tossing cars and trash bins around like plastic toys. School buses were also stuck in several inches of storm water.

Storm waters also slammed into buildings, and sometimes destroying cement walls and businesses, like a Blockbuster store and KFC restaurant.

And it wasn't just side streets that fell victim to rising waters. Interstate 10 held standing storm water forcing emergency workers to shut the city's main traffic artery down and leaving motorists stranded. And those cars unable to move became submerged.

In 2006 storms, a car became overwhelmed with its driver stuck inside. There were no guardrails installed to keep the driver out of a storm drainage canal, and the woman drowned.

Much has changed since the 2006 storms. Several retention ponds were strategically constructed to draw storm water coming down the Franklin Mountains, and guardrails were installed around that same storm water drainage canal that claimed the life of a driver.

But while much has changed, flooding is still very much a part of the Borderland.

This current monsoon season has dumped several inches of rain throughout all of El Paso, not one side of the Borderland has escaped the wrath of storm waters.

This year, that same canal on Diana that claimed a life of a driver became overwhelmed and poured out onto neighborhoods after our area received so much rain.

In west El Paso, Paisano and Executive held so much storm water that vehicles became stalled in the middle of the roadway. In the northeast, a storm water retention pond on Apollo and Pandora became overwhelmed and storm water started shooting upward like a geyser.

Thirteen years after the storm water utility was created, El Paso drainage improvements can be seen throughout the city - like a paved canal in the Lower Valley, or larger retention ponds which hold millions of gallons of storm water.

Storm water searches for the path of least resistance creating havoc, causing misery and paints a picture of work yet to be done to keep water off roads and from seeping into homes.