Hatch’s Mayor reflects on devastation caused by Storm 2006

it’s been 10 years, but these images haunt us today as they did then. storm 2006 flooded el paso, but also communities throughout the borderland. as we begin to look back at the devastation from those storms — our crews are looking into how borderland communities are still recovering. our new mexico mobile newsroom was in hatch today–one of the hardest hit communities in dona ana county. abc-7’s josie ortegon takes a look at what’s changed: the unthinkable came to hatch about two weeks after the rest of the borderland. august 15th, 2006, was when the storm hit the already waterlogged village of hatch. residents there tell me it was a day they’d never forget.: pkg: “you get so emotional. i still do. you get so emotional just seeing that all your hard work, that you’ve done for years and years. where are you gonna be. where are you gonna end up?” lifelong residen bertha torres has lived here more than 30 years. the flooding was the worst she’s ever seen. “in an instant, you lef in the morning everything was fine and this was like 3 or 4 in the afternoon.” within moments the entire village was underwater. buildings, streets and cars damaged. families evacuated from their homes. “na pop” stand-up 1 “the water from the storm cam from the mountains and into las plazitas arroyo, but there was a lot of buildup here near the underpass, when the water came it brought with it a lot of debris causing the water to rise.” stand up 2 “the arroy breaches, sending the water straight to the village of hatch, hitting homes, businesses and an apartment complex that sits today as a vivid reminder of that horrible day.” stand-up “take a look at the damage caused by those floodwaters. inside los caballos apartment complex, at least 3-4 feet of sheetrock removed where those waters rose.” stand up 4 the waters raging through downtown hatch, it was in this exact spot where former abc-7 reporter jamie rubenstein was covered waist deep in the flood.” “file this is th scene right now in downtown hatch it literally looks like downtown venice.” “nat pop–the water i right here when you would open the window the water would splash a little inside.” the streets are back t normal now buildings and homes hav3 since been rebuilt. village mayor andy nunez says the floods caused several millions of dollars in damage. some families left and never came back. but for those like torres there was no other option. “you see where othe devastation is hit, wherever, mississipi, oklahoma and their homes get destroyed and you always tho k why would they rebuild? get out of there. tornadoes are going to come back the next year. and you never understand that. when it happened to us i said this is home. this is where i grew up my kids were raised here. it’s home.” hatch mayor andy nunez tells abc-7 the village continually cleans the arroyo and bridges have been built to prevent another flood from happening. a well-known radio personality in