TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) – Midtown Tucson faces unique challenges when it comes to monsoon flooding. Much of the area was built without any type of storm sewer system, so the Pima County Flood Control Authority and the City of Tucson are working together in small locations like small parks where the contours of the land direct water downward and hold it in a retention basin to keep it safely away from streets and homes.

When it rains in Midtown, the streets fill up. In Ann Moynihan’s neighborhood, the streets are even designed to fill with water and direct it to a car wash.

“The water comes down here and joins together, and then we have a pretty big flow in this creek; it can be filled to just above the banks. I haven’t seen it yet, but the entire creek can be full of water at that point.”

Ann knows flood patterns better than most. She worked for Pima County’s Flood Control Agency for many years. Now she follows county and city efforts to improve protection for Midtown.

Near Kino Parkway, Cherry Field is now ready for baseball, but its deep bowl structure is designed to capture and retain high flows of stormwater. But Midtown is now so built up that it is difficult for the county and city to get enough land for large, new flood control structures.

Eric Shepp, director of the Pima Flood Control Authority, says, “We’ve moved away from trying to manage the once-in-a-century flood and instead created a whole series of smaller basins that have a whole host of other benefits. They become parks, they are community gathering places, they produce more trees and they improve water quality.”

Modern measurements help Pima Flood Control find the best locations for neighborhood flood basins, and the Tucson Parks Department maintains them so they’re ready when the next monsoon fills them.