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South Mountain Road Closed Due To Storm Damage

(Courtesy of Phoenix Parks and Recreation)

South Mountain’s Summit Road is closed following two severe rainstorms in less than a month.

On August 12, rain damaged the road leading up to the summit. The parks department went to work to remove mud and debris and repair sections of the road.

They were days away from re-opening Summit Road when last week’s record-breaking rainfall literally washed away their hard work.

Scott Covey, a park ranger at South Mountain Park, said there are 11 sites along the 15 mile stretch of road needing repair. The work is underway again, but there’s still the issue of who will foot the bill.

"We’re talking a considerable amount of money that it’s going to cost to repair the damage from these two storms," Covey said. "We’ve heard an estimate of $800,000 to do the damage repairs."

Covey said the city’s insurance will pay part of the bill, and it’ll take two to three months to repair the road. In the meantime, the mountain’s hiking trails are still accessible.

KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.