Near-Constant Rains Taking Toll On Region’s Mountains, Farmlands

EL PASO, Tx. – Even though the clouds stuck aroundnearly all dayTuesday and the rain stayed away, some officials are worried about the damage not-so-deep underground.

While the chances for rain over the next few days isdwindling,even without more rain, the ground is wet enough to cause some serious problems. One major problem is the cleaved passage known asTransmountain Road.

The near-constant rain and runoff has seeped into centuries-oldcracks, making the rocks just unstable enough to cause dangerouslandslides. Rock slides that started Saturday, continued Sunday and Monday, forcing the closure of the heavily-used road.

According to Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT) officials, heavy boulders, somehalf the size of small cars,have been crashing down on various portions of Transmountain Road. Concrete barriers were broken and heavy rocks are still blocking the roadway.

Officialstell ABC-7there haven’t been any rock slides like these in years. Spokeswoman for TxDoT, Blanca del Valle, blames it on a month of steady rain and she worries about the danger to drivers.

Ms. Valle adds, “It’s very dangerous. These rocks could have fallen on any vehicle. The visibility is low and just to run into a rockslide is very dangerous.”

Also hurt by the soaking rains are areafarmers. Since the soil has been saturated for more than a month, recent rainshaven’t allowed any of the surrounding fieldsto dry out. Several pecan farms in Clint are still under several feet of thick mud.

Cotton farmers in the area say they haven’t had to irrigate their fields since Storm 2006 hit, but too much water isn’t a good thing.

Expertstell ABC-7many plants could be losing out on nutrients and crops could be lost.

USDA Conservationist Ted Bolzlatells ABC-7,”If the ground stays saturated plants will begin to die…also the fertilizer leaches out of the soil so plants can’t use the fertilizer.”

Pecan Farmer Pete Eveler adds,”The feeder roots, they need oxygen, or they can’t breathe. That silt has to come out of the ground in order to have a good crop.”

Farmers aren’t the only ones hoping the rain won’t continue.

TxDoTsays several crews are working on clearing Transmountain Road 24 hours a day. Officials hope to open Transmountain by Friday, but that depends on the weather.