Hatch residents remember flood 9 years later

It’s been 9 years since a heavy flood overtook the village of Hatch. Hatch residents tell ABC-7, they vividly remember the tense moments the water started rushing into the town.

“As soon as I walk in there was a big wave coming through the back door,” Melva Aguirra, the owner of Pepper Pot restaurant said.

The Pepper Pot restaurant is back to normal now, but Aguirra recalls the time they were practically underwater.

“It was 3 feet of water, how are you going to stop them?” she said.

Aguirra tells ABC-7 she didn’t take the flood seriously at first, until the wave came rushing in. Everything was damaged inside.

“The bathroom seats all the way to the stove and clean out the mud that was inside,” she said.

While the Pepper Pot is back in business, parts of the village remain untouched. An apartment complex north of the village is full of debris, broken glass and abandoned appliances.

“The one thing I can say about the flood is it brought people together,” Slim Whitlock, a Hatch resident said.

Whitlock recalls the time a man who had lost almost everything, offered him help during the flood.

“He put his hand on my shoulder and he asked me if I needed anything and I realized then that that I had been feeling sorry for myself,” he said.

Whitlock, like Aguirre, agree the community came together and its something they will never forget.

“That, that’s what living in a small town’s all about. Unless you live here, more then you’ll ever know,” Whitlock said.

The director of the public works department tells ABC-7 every year they’ve been cleaning out the arroyo and maintaining it. He says its an effort to prevent what happened 9 years ago from ever happening again.