El Paso County residents still waiting on stormwater repairs after severe rainfall in 2023

ELLICOTT, Colo. (KRDO) - Nearly a year after several days worth of torrential thunderstorms caused widespread damage in Eastern El Paso County, some landowners are still waiting for repairs to critical storm-water infrastructure in their neighborhoods.

Jeff and Sherry Evans showed KRDO13 Investigates a sheet-metal berm and three large culvert pipes, which sit a quarter-mile down the road from their home. The damage to that infrastructure was still evident from when it failed during those storms in June 2023, due to the Black Squirrel Creek gushing with water.

The Evans say that the creek water then flowed up and onto Jones Rd. towards their driveway, but instead turned and flowed into their front yard. The water weaved its way into their garage, leaving inches of mud on the floor, and continued on towards their corral for their four horses.

The water left mounds of debris and garbage strewn about. It also connected to the portion of the Creek which runs through the back of their property. The Evans say the flooding widened the creek-bed by nearly 40 feet.

"It was just unreal to see it, how it was." said Jeff Evans, who was alerted by his son the morning of one of those storms, that the creek was in overdrive.

As a result of the remaining damages, and the still-broken berm down the road, the Evans say they have been asking El Paso County's Public Works department throughout 2024 to come out and make the repairs, out of fear another above-average storm could lead to similar flooding.

"If we can't get some resolution to have the county fix this  down here, squirrel creek, it's going to impact me and the neighbors again." said Jeff Evans.

KRDO13 Investigates then spoke with El Paso County's Public Works department, who explained they were empathetic to the Evans' concerns, and explained that Jones Road is on their list of more involved projects, however they have a list of priorities for addressing those repairs.

"The thing we're very proud of is that El Paso County has some of the lowest taxes in the state, but that means we don't have unlimited resources. So we have to triage and prioritize everything that we do." said Jack Ladley, the Deputy Director of El Paso County's Public Works, who stated they were able to re-open upwards of 50 roads and five bridges within 45-60 days after those storms rocked many susceptible areas of the county.

Ladley adds that they are waiting for approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who can tell them whether the Black Squirrel Creek is under their jurisdiction or not, since the creek falls under the Clean Water Act.

"In some ways, you kind of feel a little hamstrung because you can't just jump out there. You can't just start digging and reestablishing channels. But clearly, it's something that needs to occur at this location." said Ladley.

Ladley says that along with Jones Rd., they're eyeing another project, about a 2 mile drive from the Evans' land on JD Johnson Rd., which also had a major failure last June. It was there that the creek water blew past its four concrete culverts, ultimately cascading towards the culvert and berm that failed on Jones Road. 

"It's not going to be a bridge. What we're going to do is a concrete low-water crossing, so as that water comes rushing down,  it'll be able to just rush right on through, but it'll be a concrete crossing," explained Ladley. "We'll have signage up for people, there will be measurements so that if there is water there, people know, 'Hey, this water is a foot deep.' Rather than putting a structure there that would potentially just damage again."

In November of 2023, KRDO13 reported that El Paso County Commissioners unanimously voted to obtain federal emergency funds, through FEMA, to help pay for $8.4 million dollars in damages to county roads and parks infrastructure caused by those storms.

Ladley says that for what his team oversees, those damages were more in the range of $1 million, and the rest of that reimbursed money, went towards parks and other county owned property. However Ladley says that they're still waiting to see that money come from FEMA.

"We've taken all of that documentation of the repair work... the manpower, the equipment that we use, those kinds of things and have submitted everything we have at this point to the team. And we're waiting for them to adjudicate it and determine what they're going to reimburse for." said Ladley.

The Deputy Director says that they've requested for additional funds in the county's budget next year to help them create a more robust inventory system, so they can do a condition assessment on all of their stormwater systems.

"So that would be all of our pipes are underground structures, things like that. We just don't have the staff to get out there and do that ourselves and maintain it and so what we're looking for is somebody that can get out there... then we'll start being able to prioritize what we're going to get out and work on." said Ladley.

El Paso County says they want the help of residents to report any issues that they see with local stormwater infrastructure. They also say that homeowners should make sure any culverts near their home are cleared out ahead of any storms.