REMEMBERING THE DEVASTATION

October marks 25th anniversary of 1983 flood

Area residents who lived through the October 1983 flood say they’ll never forget the cataclysmic event that emergency management officials later called “the worst flooding in a century in Southern Arizona.”

Throughout eastern Pima County, thousands of people were forced from their homes, at least three people were killed, and damage to roadways, bridges and other infrastructure, such as sewer and water systems, was later estimated as exceeding $400 million, not counting the damage to homes and businesses.

Hardest hit was the community of Marana, north of Tucson, where 2,000 had to be evacuated. By comparison, Green Valley itself fared much better. Even so, the downpour, which lasted three days, forced evacuation of 11 homes Saturday, Oct. 1, 1983, in Esperanza Estates. Most found refuge with neighbors.

A retaining wall burst in Esperanza Estates that Saturday, spewing water into an arroyo that runs behind Circulo Napa. Within minutes, the arroyo overflowed, sweeping away portions of homes and leaving a trail of muddy debris, furniture, walls and windows.

Area residents, including Green Valley News employees who lived in Tucson or in outlying areas, were unable to reach Green Valley over the weekend since Interstate 19 and Highway 89, Green Valley’s link to Tucson and Nogales were closed for parts of Saturday, Sunday and then on Monday. Portions of the interstate remained closed for weeks afterward since bridges needed to be rebuilt.

‘Cruel tragedy’

Green Valley resident Lloyd Hanson, who worked as a photographer for the News, and his wife Mary Lou and News employee Christina Kulesza, copy editor, provided eyewitness accounts reported in the Wednesday, Oct. 5, 1983 edition.

“I wondered how people adjust to this kind of cruel tragedy as I went inside the home of Henry and Kirsten Grothaus at 753 Circulo Napa and found the elderly couple in a state of shock. Their bedroom and bathroom had been washed away,” Hanson said.

“Kirsten told Mary Lou that all of her ‘important papers,’ presumably credit cards, insurance records, mortgage papers and driver’s license had been in her purse, along with the treasured diamond ring. The purse was now lost in the swirling arroyo that snakes around the rear of homes on Circulo Napa in a northeasterly direction,” Hanson reported.

Long-time Green Valley weather watcher Oli Ambers reported more than six-and-a-half inches of rainfall between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2. The ensuing flood washed out the west end of the bridge on east Continental Road and destroyed a mile-long section of the Helmet Peak Road bridge off I-19.

The bridge then linking Highway 89 to Interstate 19 at Duval Mine Road was severely damaged and closed to traffic through Monday. The southbound lane of the bridge over the arroyo just south of The Villas was also closed through that Monday, although the northbound lane remained open.

Local mail service was affected since employees who lived in outlying areas, such as Arivaca, Madera Canyon and Montana Vista were blocked by washouts. Those who lived in Tucson were forced to take a roundabout route on Mission Road to reach Green Valley.

No schools, golf

Golf courses in Green Valley and Tubac were flooded and closed for a week. Continental and Sahuarita district schools were closed for two days, but the flooding prevented many students from returning to school. even as late as the following Friday.

In Sahuarita, Continental and Elephant Head, hundreds were cut off without electricity, telephone service, medical supplies and food.

At that time, there was no bridge over the Santa Cruz River at Elephant Head Road and an estimated 100 families in that rural area were stranded for more than a week. Some, including the late Pima County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bobby Baker, got out by horseback to notify the Sheriff’s Department, The department contacted the National Guard, which eventually sent helicopters to drop food, medicine and other emergency supplies for residents.

Pam Mox, publisher of the Green Valley News, recalled that she was stranded for at least a week or more in Elephant Head where she was then living with her husband and daughters, Brittany, 1, and Amber, 3.

Mox said her husband, Wayne, was unable to reach them because he was marooned on the west side of the Santa Cruz River and wound up staying with her parents in Green Valley.

Unlike many residents in the area, Mox recalls that she did have phone service and electricity, but was very concerned about medicine she needed for Brittany.

“Some people got out the back way on what is now Pasadera Road to reach Continental and beyond, but it was very treacherous,” she said, adding that her most vivid memories include watching a refrigerator float down the Santa Cruz River, which had swelled to five or six times its normal width, and was flowing fast, laden with trees and other debris.

“We didn’t have much else to do, so we all went down to the river to see what was floating by,” she recalled.

Residents from Continental were also cut off for several days from rescue efforts, but many refused to leave the area. Continental residents told Pima County Sheriff’s deputies they planned to wait it out until the river receded.

Evacuation center

Despite a shortage of cots and bedding, East Social Center was transformed into a makeshift evacuation shelter that Saturday, following the rescue of more than 50 people from the Los Arboles Trailer Park in Sahuarita by the National Guard.

The center was staffed by 60 volunteers directed by the late Walter McKinley, coordinator of the Citizen Bears and other volunteer groups that eventually morphed into the Sheriff’s Auxilliary Volunteers, and the Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff’s substation commander, the late Lt. John Czech, and McKinley, made the decision that additional help was needed to evacuate Los Arboles and arranged for the National Guard to be sent to Sahuarita to rescue the families there and bring them to East Center.

A sign-in sheet at East Center showed it housed 63 flood victims, most from Los Arboles. Local restaurants and residents acted quickly to donate food, bedding and clothing to the flood victims.

Shelters were also set up at the Sahuarita and Continental schools and at West Social Center to temporarily house flood refugees, some of whom were motorists traveling between Nogales and Tucson.

To their dismay, sheriff’s and fire department members here learned early on that they could expect no help from the Red Cross in Tucson, where workers were reportedly overwhelmed with emergencies.

Two homeless families from Sahuarita found their way to the Green Valley sheriff’s substation that Monday. Gilbert Bejarano of 15881 S. La Posta in Sahuarita reported floodwaters “completely destroyed” his home, His and the other homeless family were referred to Green Valley Assistance Services for aid.

Throughout the weekend and on Monday, calls from concerned relatives and friends around the country flooded the Sheriff’s Department.

The volume of calls, the number of evacuees and the terrible traveling conditions soon led to the decision to call in the National Guard.

“No other help was available,” Sheriff’s Lt. Czech said at the time.

“We realized that Green Valley and surrounding communities were completely and totally isolated. We were completely on our own,” he said, adding that, “the only reliable information over the weekend and Monday came from the Sheriff’s Separtment and was broadcast over KGVY radio,”

Kathy Engle is a freelance writer who lives in Amado. You can contact her at kdengle@earthlink.net.