City Official: Greater EP Landfill not to blame for mudslide in Clint

Residents in Clint continue to try and dig themselves out after heavy rains hit the area Thursday afternoon, causing a wall of mud and water to roll into the neighborhood.

The heaviest hit homes are on the Virrey Road, a private road located just off of Clint Road and North Loop.

ABC-7 spoke with several residents who were using shovels to try and dig the mud out of their yards, which measured as high as four to five feet in some areas.

“I’ve been here 36 years,” Patricia Romero said as she sobbed, staring at her yard, which is now under several feet of mud. “It hurts. I just want help. My neighbors want help. They’re devastated. I just want help!”

Romero spent part of the day burying her two sheep and two chickens that were killed when the mud rolled in.

“I just want for them to do something to protect us neighbors that have been here for 30-some years,” Romero said as she cried.

Some residents, including Romero, believe the mud came from the Greater El Paso Landfill, located Northwest of the neighborhood.

Ellen Smythe, director of Environmental Services at the City of El Paso, said the landfill received three inches of rain in an hour, but she doesn’t believe the issues on Virrey Road were caused by the landfill.

“It’s almost like that cloud that just parked itself up there, I believe probably the same cloud that got Clint as well,” Smythe told ABC-7. “But when you consider our facility, it would have to go down the desert, under the freeway, cross the road and then down into the city. So its very unlikely.”