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Two major Cave Creek roadways washed out
Roads now passable, but sections of asphalt washed away
by Brian DiTullio

CAVE CREEK – Tuesday night’s storm washed out School House and Spur Cross roads just north of the Town Core, leaving Cave Creek officials to deal with the mess.

Town Engineer Wayne Anderson said one section of School House was washed away by the storm, just over the first hill north of Desert Foothills Library. Spur Cross Road didn’t fare as well, with several sections washed out and others suffering buckled pavement.

“Both roads are passable right now,” Anderson said Wednesday morning as he prepared to perform a more detailed damage assessment. “That was a pretty heavy flow through there last night.”

Former Vice Mayor Ralph Mozilo, walking down School House Road to retrieve his vehicle, told The Desert Advocate it took him four hours to return to his residence from the downtown area because he was forced to park his car and walk home.

“I’ve lived up there for 12 years and this is the first time I’ve seen this happen to this road,” said Mozilo at the end of his two-mile hike Wednesday morning.

He related that the floodwaters had receded enough Tuesday evening to get across the flooded areas and that he helped a woman who also was stranded reach her husband’s pickup on the other side of the wash.

“He was nice enough to give me a lift home from there,” said Mozilo.

Construction workers digging nearby claimed they saw several deer carcasses among the other debris the storm washed through the area.

Anderson said the town will try to get the roads repaired as soon as possible, but that it’s too early to assign a schedule for the repairs.

“We have to see exactly what’s going on, and then we’ll get together, look at the budget and figure everything out,” he said, adding the town definitely would be looking to state and federal agencies to try and recoup the repair costs.

The heavy monsoon storm also inundated portions of North Scottsdale and the Desert Hills/New River areas, flooding out numerous roadways. Area officials Wednesday were still assessing the total damages.

The National Weather Service is predicting a chance of more monsoon storms for the rest of the week.

Look for an update on the damaged areas in next week’s edition of The Desert Advocate.

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