Westside arroyo filled with sediment, rocks concerns nearby residents

Recent storms left several areas of the borderland recovering from flooding but concerns remain for residents on El Paso’s west side after an arroyo was filled with sediment and rocks that caused an overflow onto streets and nearby homes.

Tuesday afternoon, Franklin Hills Street was covered with mud and rocks making for unfavorable driving conditions.

The issue — sediments and rock filled the channel causing the water to run off and residents in the area say they are worried it might get worse with more rain expected to hit the borderland.

“You get a very large rainstorm that carries a lot of debris off the mountain and down into those channels,” said Alan Schubert, vice president of operations for El Paso Water Utilities.

Schubert says crews are already working on clearing the channel.

“We’ll be working at least till midnight through the night, we intend to clean it out by tomorrow,” Schubert said.

But residents say the problem actually starts higher up the neighborhood.

“This was a river,” Marcos Ruarte said.

Ruarte just moved into his home a month ago and was not very familiar with how heavy rain would impact his neighborhood.

“We kind of start hearing some noises like when you’re inside a river, stones big rocks kind of moving,” Ruarte told ABC-7.

Shortly after he says something very shocking happened.

“All of a sudden we felt something falling down and I was in my room and opened my window and saw there’s no wall there,” Ruarte said.

A massive piece of concrete laying 30 feet away was Ruarte’s fence .. stuck in the arroyo.

A nearby retaining wall for a retention pond gave way.

“My fear is that the water was feeding underground,” Ruarte said.

You can see a massive hole below Ruarte’s yard.

Schubert said there’s already a project to remedy the situation in the works.

“We are working with the property owner to develop detention and retention. The design has been completed and construction is supposed to start in a couple of months,” Schubert said.

But it could take a year to complete.

“I believe we need a solution now. I mean I have kids, a baby and it’s my backyard here,” Ruarte said.

Schubert said another issue they are have is illegal dumping. He tells me a lot of the flooding El Pasoans saw near Doniphan Road was caused by trash in the drainage, with crews even finding a bumper at one point.