Park hit hard by flooding

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — City crews are busy repairing thousands of dollars worth of damage at Red Rock Park following recent rains.

According to Public Works Director Stan Henderson, Friday's rains exposed some underground water and gas lines at the park, sent loose sediment streaming down the main canyon into the camp site, and flooded some park facilities.

Park Manager Bill Lee said the rains left eight inches of water in the park's hospitality suite, while rivers of mud wiped out up to 25 camp sites.

While park staff managed to empty the hospitality room in relatively short order, Lee said, a second round of rain in the middle of the night left the room flooded again until the water was discovered the next morning. They're still assessing the amount of damage the water did to the tiles, walls and doors. Lee estimated the amount of damage to the park at between $8,000 and $10,000.

Henderson said the damage was an annual occurrence at the park.

"When they catch a ... storm cell, this is a typical event," he said.

Because the hospitality room was built below grade, Lee said, it floods every year. But this year was a little worse that usual, he added.

"This is a particularly bad one," Lee said, "but it's not unusual to have this happen every year."

According to Lee, the heavy rains also sent a boulder crashing onto a main water line and breaking it. He said the city has already fixed the line.

The park has had a particularly bad run of the weather lately. Wind bursts in early June tore apart a few dozen horse stalls at the park, the same wind bursts that toppled a half-dozen poles around Gallup and knocked out power to several neighborhoods.