Storm lacks wallop of 2018
Rain caused damage on Agua Fría Street, minor flooding; much less ‘significant’ than last year’s deluge
Although Santa Fe suffered minor flooding from a steady, slow-moving rainstorm Thursday night, the city emerged largely unscathed even as
the monsoon season showed signs of strengthening. The worst damage was a nearly 25-foot-long hole that formed across one lane of Agua Fría Street, forcing the closure of the busy and recently paved roadway from about 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Friday. But the mess from what Mayor Alan Webber called “a major storm all over the city” paled
in comparison to the damage and destruction left almost exactly a year ago after a severe rain that was called a 1,000-year event.
“The storm last year was significant,” Webber said after surveying the damage Friday on Agua Fría, which was backed up between about Osage Avenue and Velarde Street as crews blocked off one lane to repair the 3- to 4-footdeep hole.
“This is less significant, but it is a reminder that even when we have … all of our effort to keep the waterways clear, suddenly something crops up that you weren’t prepared for, and the city has to respond on an emergency basis,” the mayor said. Javier Martinez, Streets and Drainage Maintenance Division director, said the city “had months of repairs that needed to get done” after last year’s rainstorm, which caused major flooding across the city and beyond. “It took my streets team about three to four months just to clear debris off of roadways, get the culverts cleared so the next storm could go through,” he said.
“We did an assessment now, and this was the major thing other than a few debris coming across the roadways,” Martinez added, referring to the damage on Agua Fría.
Martinez said a contractor was working on a sewer line replacement project on Agua Fría near Barela Lane when it started to rain.
“They made the repair, and they were in the middle of backfilling the material, and that’s when the rain started to hit,” he said. “It was real heavy rain. The water started to go inside of their trench. As they were pushing material in, it was just getting muddy, muddy and washing material down the road.”
After the contractor ran out of material, the police department notified his division, and the street was closed. “There was no other option than to put a steel plate [over the hole] because the rain wouldn’t stop,” Martinez said. “Our goal was to get it open for the morning commute.”
Webber praised city employees for their quick response and teamwork, saying they worked through the night as rain continued to fall with thunder overhead. “We really need to give the team the props they deserve — the guys in the yellow vests who came out here in the middle of the night to keep people safe,” he said.
Outside Santa Fe, mud and debris from Thursday’s storm prompted sheriff ’s deputies to close the eastbound lane of N.M. 502 near the Totavi gas station for about two hours. The road leads into Los Alamos.