MATHIS, Texas — You can call it a muddy mess. Mud lined Evergreen Street in Mathis after a bit of rain Sunday night. That left mud up and down the street into Monday morning.
“The day they actually made this neighborhood, it’s been like this,” Mathis resident Norma Dominguez described.
She said the mud has been a problem on Evergreen Street and other streets in Mathis for 50 years.
She said not being able to get out of her neighborhood due to the mud causes her emotional distress like depression and anxiety because she misses doctor’s appointments for her allergies.
“I haven’t had a shot since last Friday. I’m very sick right now and I don’t know if I can make it to get out of the road and get stuck,” Dominguez said.
Gerardo Courvier also lives on Evergreen Street and said the mud gets worse during hurricane season when the road floods.
He added the Red Cross even had to give vouchers to people whose cars got stuck in the mud years ago.
Courvier said it’s also a problem staying indoors because with mud on the streets, that could mean people losing control behind the wheel.
“Sometimes they end up inside my driveway because they lose their steering and that’s kind of scary because sometimes there’s kids playing around here,” Courvier said.
Mathis resident Joe Garcia said the City of Mathis started a construction project on his street that they never finished.
He thinks that is what’s causing the mud on the streets and said the city needs to step up and complete it.
“I would love for them to do the project right, finish it, and move on to other parts of the city which are in need also, but let’s finish one project first, complete, and then move on,” Garcia said.
The Mathis city manager Michael Barrera said the city laid down a recycled material of asphalt and concrete on Evergreen Street to alleviate the problem.
He said it was a temporary solution.
Right now, work is being done on utilities like the sewer and Barrera said that needs to be complete before asphalt is laid onto the street.
He added asphalt will be a more permanent solution and said he expects that to be done in the next 30-60 days.
