Days before monsoon begins, people in a neighborhood near Casa Grande are worried about a flooding "deja vu."
“It was the worst thing in my life,” said Irma Redondo, who along with her husband and three children, is still unable to move back to her home near Overfield and Randolph roads.
“The kids are petrified to come back here, you know, they’re scared of it,” she said.
Redondo and other neighbors were forced to evacuate in August of 2017 after a monsoon storm caused severe flooding throughout the area. Aside from damaging structural and electrical components, the water destroyed most of the family’s belongings and totaled two of their cars. Because the neighborhood is not located in a designated floodplain, and the family didn’t have flood insurance, they’ve been forced to pay thousands for repairs out-of-pocket.
It’s still unclear what caused the flooding. On Tuesday, ABC15 found clogged storm drain pipes in a culvert along Overfield Road near the homes. Pinal County spokesman Joe Pyritz said the flood control district found a possible water mitigation plan would cost $8-million, which wasn’t feasible.
Pyritz said the county’s next fiscal year budget, beginning next month, calls for another study in the area to look for potential problems and any other fix.
“We need [the answer] to what they’re going to do,” Rosa Portillo, another resident, told ABC15.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Redondo family complete repairs at their home.
