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Francom, manager of Carefree Water Company, discussed
the effort his crew put into
clearing off roads and cleaning up debris.
“It
takes about two days to clean up the debris after
a really heavy storm,” explained Francom, adding it’s
about another two or three days to finish all the
minor washouts along the roadsides.
Francom
said fortunately the Carefree water system held up
fine during the storms and that his crews only had
to deal with the fallout from some culverts that overflowed–excessive
sand and rocks on the roadways.
“It’s
been real busy,” said Francom.
Town
Accountant Jim Keen noted storm cleanup is built into
the budget, with $75,000 earmarked for the current
year, according to the tentative budget approved earlier
this month.
The
same amount was budgeted for last year but only $57,504
was used.
Keen
pointed out Carefree gets only a few big storms each
year, but the money needs to be available so the town
is prepared. “Thank God it’s there,” he said.
John
Kraetz, battalion chief with Rural/Metro Fire Department,
advised that the new fire station currently under
construction weathered the rain storms well.
“The
roof isn’t quite finished, so a little bit of water
got in,” he said. “But we’re still on schedule and
the water didn’t really hurt anything. It didn’t throw
us off track at all.”
Kraetz
also said his department’s activity during the past
week involved a number of downed power lines. Because
of the high winds, several APS lines broke during
the storms and began arcing electricity as they lay
on the ground, igniting nearby vegetation. The heavy
rains kept the fires from spreading, however, and
the fire department mainly observed and finished putting
out any small fires after APS arrived and cut the
power.
According
to Valley weather forecasters, the monsoon season
officially began July 19.
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