Work crews and volunteers made a little headway in regards to flood mitigation after a dry week in the Schultz-Pipeline Flood Area, however the Monsoon is expected to ramp back up Sunday and into next week. The less rainfall gave work crews and volunteers time to install more flood mitigation and to fill sandbags. Coconino County Flood District Manager Lucinda Andreani says since last Friday, “we’ve placed about another half-mile to a mile of barrier at various homes.” The bad news is things look bad for homes near the forest line in the Timberline area. She says, “the watersheds are unraveling.” Andreani mentions the Copeland Lane area where boulders came rolling down last week. She says most of the barriers placed have been in that area. However, she adds, there’s another natural fan above the area that’s still holding firm, but could give way with more rain in the future. She says there was a plan after the Schultz Fire to work on mitigation in that area, but residents at the time rejected work being done. The county received some help from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey this week after he declared an emergency for the county on Wednesday. The move frees up state additional resources to help flood mitigation. The filling of sandbags has improved, but there is still a ways to go. If you would like to volunteer to fill sandbags, contact the United Way of Northern Arizona to help. Andreani says there are three sandbag stations at Cromer School, the filling station at Campbell and now at Peaks View Park on Koch Field Road. There you will find stations to fill your own bags, or there is a stockpile of bags at Cromer and Peaks View. If you need help with flood mitigation or have any other questions, log onto the Coconino County website or call (928) 679-8525.
To listen to the entire interview between Dave and Lucinda, click here:
