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GILA COUNTY, Ariz. - One month after historic and deadly flooding devastated Globe, cleanup is continuing as city and county leaders assess long-term recovery needs and ways to mitigate future damage.
What we know:
Globe Mayor Al Gameros said the city is fighting to keep outside help from forgetting the community. Natural disasters, he said, can financially break a city, even with government assistance.
"We had a disaster and at the same time you're learning what the rules are," Gameros said, noting that while state funding may cover 75% of costs, federal funding can cover up to 90%.
The city submitted a federal FEMA disaster declaration on Oct. 24, and the community is currently awaiting potential resources. In the meantime, Broad Street has reopened to traffic, though some damaged buildings remain fenced off pending engineering studies.
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Dig deeper:
Moving forward, leaders stressed the need for preventative infrastructure and planning. A key priority is getting floodplain maps updated to help engineer Pinal Creek and lower residents’ flood insurance costs.
"There are homes where I understand that they're gonna have a higher rate because they're close by a watershed, but there's other homes that are far up and away from that, and it seems like it was kind of a wide net when it comes to flood insurance rates," said Carl Melford, Gila County Emergency Manager. He hopes to make those rates more accurate and affordable.
Gameros stressed that leaders need cooperation from the Army Corps of Engineers and support from legislators to address the massive burn scar on the mountain from the Telegraph Fire, a major contributing factor to the rapid water flow.
While some residents have raised concerns about bridge maintenance along the creek, Melford said infrastructure was not the main culprit in September.
"This was a historic flooding event, the bridge could've been much higher, it wouldn't have changed much of anything really, I don't think there was any one piece of infrastructure to blame for this event," Melford said.
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What you can do:
Gameros urged those who sustained damage to utilize the United Fund of Globe-Miami and other local resources.
What's next:
An after-action report assessing the flood response is expected within the next couple of months.