MESA, AZ — Remnants of last Wednesday's storm still linger in a Mesa neighborhood near Main Street and Sossaman Road, where three businesses say a nearby storm drain overflows every time a hard rain hits.
Video shared with ABC15 by Mesa Window Tinting and Glass shows floodwater rushing from the drain, down a slope and into the store's parking lot. It was one of several local businesses hit by last week's heavy rain. Some parts of Mesa took on three inches of rain in a couple of hours.
Todd Holm owns Mesa Window Tinting and Glass. He says the flooding happens every year or so, and each time it leaves him with several inches of mud to remove from his parking lot.
"Life is busy enough without having to mess with that," Holm said.
Holm's lot has a drainage system, but a storm like last week's is more than it can handle.
"We hire people to do all the grading and so forth. Aren't things supposed to be graded properly for when things like this happen?" Holm said, questioning the maintenance of the overflowing drain.
Across the street, the mobile home lot at Clayton Homes is still muddy. Its sales center took on about a foot of floodwater, and a watermark still remains in some places.
ABC15 also obtained video from last week showing water rushing into the Agave Village Senior Living Community. None of the modular homes there show visible damage.
The storm drain is not the City of Mesa's responsibility. It sits just outside city limits and belongs to ADOT. A spokesperson for the state's department of transportation told ABC15 this was more rain than the system can withstand, and that water flowing downhill from the drain to these businesses makes it challenging, but they are working on it.
Main Street was widened within the past two years. Holm and other business operators say they were hopeful the project would fix their flooding problem, but the water still comes when they need it least.
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