Sunday's severe storm costs city over $66,000 to repair damages to public property

LAS CRUCES - The City of Las Cruces reports it cost more than $66,000 to repair damages to city property due to Sunday’s severe storm that uprooted trees and downed powerlines.

According to Franco Granillo, parks administrator for the City of Las Cruces, said about 119 trees were removed from city property through Thursday, July 15. This includes parks, sports fields, trails, medians and right of ways. Older trees in places such as Apodaca Park and Young Park were especially prone to damage. Irrigation in medians was also damaged when trees were uprooted.

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The cost is estimated to be more than $41,000 for the parks department based on full-time and temporary staff, equipment use, replacement and rental. The public works department estimated a total cost of more than $24,000, including equipment, labor and traffic control expenses. This estimate accounts for cleanup from Sunday through Tuesday.

Granillo said the felled trees ranged in value from $500 to more than $10,000 each, depending on whether they were newly planted or mature. A large felled tree in Apodaca Park Sunday was valued on the higher end. The larger trees took up to three or four trips to the landfill to dispose of after crews chopped them down.

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While damage was reported citywide, much of the cleanup work was concentrated on Telshor with downed mesquite trees and moving east toward Sonoma Ranch, according to Granillo. Based on his observations, the east side of town was hit the hardest by the storm.

He explained that the trees that fall are usually in decline to begin with. They may have issues with their roots, disease on the trunk weakening it or an infestation of some kind. The trees are then taken to the landfill rather than replanted or turned into mulch because the inside of the trunk is hollow or “like sawdust.”

“There’s really no repurposing them,” Granillo said of the felled trees.

The community forester monitors the trees on city property, and he reportedly identified more than 80 trees last year showing decline or in need of replacing. The department then works with the city contractor, Wasser & Wasser Inc., to address the hazards. This helps to alleviate danger for community members as well as city staff.

For every one tree that is taken out or damaged, two are planted, according to Granillo. Planting generally begins in the fall season through spring, during cooler weather. But this year he said they are having trouble locating trees to plant because the cold snap in October 2020 impacted nurseries.

Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, lromero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

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