Flooding Wreaks Havoc In San Antonio

By John Severance

SAN ANTONIO -- Rhonda Malone has lived off Highway 1 near San Antonio for the past 19 years.
And she has never seen anything like it.
Monday’s thunderstorm caused the arroyos and the ditches to overflow, which closed roads, stopped trains, flooded properties and farmer’s fields.
“I was scared,” said Malone, who works at the Socorro Police Department. “I didn’t want it to come into the house. After it was over, I was out there shoveling, trying to get the water off my property.”
Next to Malone’s house was a field that was still underwater 24 hours later.
“That field filled up quickly,” Malone said. “I had never seen it fill up that quickly. It filled up a couple of years ago when it rained three days in a row. But never like this.”
Undersheriff Les Torres said his office received numerous calls Tuesday night.
The sheriff’s department closed the road as mud and water caked the asphalt and boulders could also be found in the roadway.
“Highway 1 experienced a lot of problems,” Torres said. “There was a big puddle by the Savedras. And there were some other washouts. We were out there for a long time. The arroyos were running and the ditches were at capacity.”
According to the National Weather Service, only .56 inches of rain fell on the Socorro area on Tuesday. Many believe that more than an inch and probably two fell south of Socorro in the San Antonio area.
“Heavy rain caused the ditches to overflow and there was too much arroyo water and it couldn’t handle it all,” said Johnny Munyo of the Socorro Water Conservancy. “It has happened before in different places. It’s never the same.”
At John Montoya’s farm down Highway 1, the field was flooded and damage was done to a cement ditch that runs down the side of the property.
John Montoya Jr., Montoya’s son who works in the public affairs office of the National Guard, pointed out holes that run underneath the ditch and cracks that appeared in the cement.
“See that crack?” Montoya Jr. asked. “That was not there yesterday.”
The Montoyas and the Soil Conservation District had split the cost of the ditch.
“It’s going to be tough to get this ditch system fixed,” Montoya Jr. said. “The water undermined the integrity of the system. This storm was as bad as the one we had three years ago when it rained for three straight days.
“There definitely was a lot of water. The damage was really really bad.”
On the other side of the Montoya’s property, Chris Lopez’s field also was under water.
Also in the San Antonio area, the Wades, who live on Farm-Market Road, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Dad (Dave Wade) said without a doubt we got about two inches of rain,” said his daughter Cindy Wade. “It was a combination of rain in the hills and us getting the rain. It could have been worse if the rain had lasted longer.
“We were lucky. We had just bailed our hay by 1 p.m.. There are farms out here that still had their hay down.”

Flooding Wreaks Havoc In San Antonio