Damage Estimates Roll In As Businesses, Crews Continue Clean Up
EL PASO, TX. – While the historic storm of2006 hitbusinesses around the borderlandhard last week, that impact is still being felt across the city.
One region of the city hit especially hard by the storm was the Mesa Street area. City and business officials tell ABC-7 that it’s hard to tell how many businesses will survive economically at this point.
The city says the building that was home to Blockbuster Video on Mesa at Thunderbird will be torn down. Officials tell ABC-7 the structure has about half a million dollars worth in damage.
Tom McGuire, with the city’s building and permit department adds it will be cheaper to demolish the structure than to fix it. Property owners saya new building will go up, but no word yet if Blockbuster will stay there or relocate.
Across the street, boththe KFCand Sun Harvest grocery store are temporarily closed. Just around the corner local business owner Rafael Delfin is trying to keep his flower shop, Heaven Sent Flowers,going.
Delfin tells ABC-7, “A lot of customers come in but they see I’m not running at full force and they leave. They say they’re coming back but they’re already gone.”
Mr. Delfinadds thathehas lost thousands of dollars worth in merchandise, including a truck. Even as late as Wednesday, Mr.Delfin is still dealing with the aftermath as a sewage line broke in the morning, bringing in yet another mess to clean up inside his store.
Despite his recent problems, Mr. Delfin says he’s not moving his business.
According to the city, nearly 50 businesses in El Paso have been affected.
Roads were not immune to the floods either. On Shadow Mountain, Silver Springs, and Mesa Hills, only two lanes are open on a section of each street.
Crews on Shadow Mountain continue to remove dirt from culverts in a nearby channel. These are just three of the estimated 100 streets the city says are damaged.
