South Mountain Clean-Up Continues From Tuesday's Storm

Published: Thursday, August 14, 2014 - 1:38pm

Crews and staff at South Mountain Park continue to clean up after a rockslide careened through the area following Tuesday’s massive monsoon storm.

David Urbinato is with the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department. He said progress is being made to get the park ready.

"They’re just methodically moving along all roadways, they’ve got street sweepers in to get remaining dirt and dust left behind from the big clean up and, you know, like any place that is hit by big storm, and brought a lot of rain, there’s a lot to clean up," Urbinato said.

He also said while it’s not unusual for monsoon storms to wash debris onto roadways, this storm was out of the ordinary.

"The rock slide that blocked off access on the summit road was the worst slide that many long-time ranges had seen, so it speaks to how strong the storm was and how much rain it dumped," Urbinato said. "And it was just nature doing its thing and now they’re trying to catch up and get the park ready for people to come back in."

Urbinato says the main entrance to the park is open up to the one-mile mark. Tuesday’s storm caused significant damaged on the road to the summit. That section remains closed as crews continue to clean up.