Senator Shapleigh conducts aerial assessment of flood damage; walks Canutillo neighborhoods
August 3, 2006
On Wednesday, a day after the worst flooding in fifty years, Senator Shapleigh, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Public Safety conducted an aerial assessment of the damage caused to the El Paso region.
Written by Senator Eliot Shapleigh, www.shapleigh.org
On Wednesday, a day after the worst flooding in fifty years, Senator Shapleigh, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Public Safety conducted an aerial assessment of the damage caused to the El Paso region. From a vantage in a DPS helicopter, Senator Shapleigh was among the first to observe the widespread flooding of subdivisions throughout El Paso County; flooding of retaining areas along Thunderbird on the Westside; and flooding of Socorro in the Mission Valley.
The aerial assessment prepared Senator Shapleigh and El Paso community leaders as they met today with Governor Rick Perry to plan for recovery.
Residents of Canutillo and Vinton were especially hard hit, with flood waters unable to drain into the Rio Grande. In the Talbot Road area, along Doniphan Drive, a restaurant, an auto parts store, and other businesses and residents were submerged in up to three feet of standing water. Senator Shapleigh witnessed first hand the challenges of those who will need assistance in the coming weeks, those whose lives will need to be rebuilt -- from the ground up, literally, in some cases.
Senator Shapleigh walked the muddy waters and debris scattered across the homes in Canutillo and Vinton, speaking with residents such as Rudy Gaytón. Mr. Gaytón recorded four hours of video footage of the floods first rushing down an arroyo past his home, then into his garage, then the mud and water throughout his entire home. As he stood on freshly mopped tile, Mr. Gaytón and his family told the Senator of the hours they spent together pumping water out into the street, hosing down furniture, scrubbing and drying.
As Mr. Gaytón's daughter sat on the family couch, her arms flopped to each side, exhausted.
Across the street, Vinton Alderperson Cecilia Salinas showed the Senator the damage flood waters caused to her home and property. A flooding arroyo had washed boulders and debris across her front yard and into a neighboring mobile home. Windows were broken; gas and electricity were temporarily shut off.
"In my five decades and more in El Paso, I've never seen the flooding and devastation that the recent rains have delivered to us," Senator Shapleigh said.
