Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CLOVIS, N.M. — It's day four of a tumbleweed invasion in Clovis, N.M., and some homeowners still can't walk in their backyard.
"My whole backyard is covered in about 8-9 feet of tumbleweeds and debris," said resident Isaac Garcia.
The city has been working to clear out the streets. There is still some dust left behind, front yards are littered with needles, but backyards are a different story.
"Tons and tons and tons of them. That's like my fifth load. You can hear the truck out front," Garcia said.
He had to create a pathway just to get to his door.
"Now I'm lucky to have a hole and as soon as they clean the back there then I can start pushing stuff over the fence," he said.
Garcia is working to clean the mess on his own. But some neighbors can't. Jorge Garcia helped to carve a path so his grandmother could get out her door.
"She really needed some help because her house was covered with tumbleweeds. I didn't believe it, honestly I didn't believe it," he said. "She's kind of sick right now and she can't really get anything done by herself so we're just helping her out."
City officials said the best option for homeowners cleaning up their backyards is to take the tumbleweeds and throw them over the fence into an alley where workers will come and pick them up.
City workers can't enter residents' yards.
"The last couple days I just got finished cleaning the front yard, and now I'm just waiting for the backyard so I can throw stuff over the fence. But that's not what I planned to do this week," Garcia said.
The city said workers will be out cleaning until at least the end of the week. Sweeper trucks will be going through neighborhoods to help where they can.
