WATCH: South Concho River Rise Strands Residents at Mineral Wells Rd.

 

CHRISTOVAL, TX – Tom Green County residents who live off of Mineral Wells Rd. in Christoval are stranded once again as the S. Concho river has risen over the only bridge leading to the neighborhood.

Watch video from Mineral Wells park along the river:

The 50 or 60 residents experienced the same issue in 2018 when the S. Concho river flooded because of heavy rainfall.  Water ran over the small, curved bridge for months in 2018.

The problem is no one knows who actually owns the bridge and there is no other way out of the neighborhood.

In the past, residents were allowed to drive through a ranch on a road that led from the are to FM-2335, the farm-to-market road between the town of Knickerbocker and US 277.

That ranch was purchased some years ago and the new owner doesn't allow those residents to cross his private property which is perfectly legal.

Tom Green County Pct 4 County Commissioner Bill Ford said Thursday that they are monitoring the situation and the water is too high at this time to remove the tree which is in the roadway on the bridge.  Ford said when the water recedes far enough that it is safe, a county crew will remove the tree and clear the roadway.

Ford said since the 2018 issue, he has been working on a grant to improve the bridge but that process takes years because the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and other state agencies have to approve any plans to repair or replace the bridge because it is in the water way which is owned by the State. 

Ford expects the river to continue to flow over the bridge for some time and they will continue to monitor the situation. 

Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily

The LIVE! Daily is the "newspaper to your email" for San Angelo. Each content-packed edition has weather, the popular Top of the Email opinion and rumor mill column, news around the state of Texas, news around west Texas, the latest news stories from San Angelo LIVE!, events, and the most recent obituaries. The bottom of the email contains the most recent rants and comments. The LIVE! daily is emailed 5 days per week. On Sundays, subscribers receive the West Texas Real Estate LIVE! email.

Required

Most Recent Videos

Comments

Wabo73, Thu, 09/10/2020 - 15:59

If the one moron would’ve closed the gate they would still be able to use road So someone too lazy to close gate makes rest not be able to use road If mr moron ford asked or really looked he’d find who poured bridge also if they would clean out the pass thru it wouldn’t flood from 2 inches of rain

Youre asking too much of people to respect private property. The owner of the property gets it. Cant get a family of 4 to operate properly now a days, let alone a community.

I am here on the OTHER side, stranded. I own a business in town and cannot get to it. If there is an emergency we have not been shared a plan of action. When we ALL bought property over here, we ALL questioned what if the river came up and were told there is a back way. Well, now the back way is unusable. It’s surprising to me, that the road in question goes right through my property and in my deed it is stated that the county is responsible for the road on my side. The said road then stops at the start of the ranch that goes over to the main highway, it seems when the land was sold there SHOULD have been something put in their deed that the dirt road through THEIR property would be deemed as emergency exist in case of things like the river coming up or the river freezing over. So basically “THOSE people on the other side” (being us stranded) as I personally heard from the county commissioner that is supposed to be helping us, call us. I feel like we have been given up on and no one cares what happens to us.

This is what happens when you purchase property and then depend on the generosity of others when the going gets tough. From what I have read, there was a road to use on someone's property and certain conditions were put forth by the owner for that usage. You or your neighbors failed to uphold the conditions in usage and were correctly banned from usage. The real problem here is TGC is responsible and thus far has yet to justify the expenditure to make this right. You need to direct your ire at TGC and get involved, be annoying to TGC until there is an acceptable resolution.

Post a comment to this article here:

X Close