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. ~, Aug.l,199,8 Johnny Green ta kes a brea k from Cleaning . items dam- aged in the heavy rains at Dickensheet and Associates Inc., on Lipan Street near Evans Avenue. Jessica Tefft I Special to the Rocky Mountain News . Business owners near ,Evans Ave. and Lipan St. left to clean up muck i l , t t, Rains overwhelm storm sewers l J, ~. .~ By Hector Gutierrez and Roman Romero Rocky Mountain News Staff Wn'ters For the second time in a week, business owners near West Evans Avenue and South Lipan Street had to scoop out muck from backed-up storm sewers. "I'm so tired of this," said Lo- retta Dardano, owner of Dardano's Flowerland, 1205 W. Evans Ave. "The drainage is not able to handle the water. 1 wish the city would do something. We can't dry in time and then the next storm comes. "I wish it would have been a fire because fires destroy everything, and water just . .. leaves every- thing behind." A storm that dropped nearly 6 inches of rain in southwest Den- ver on Saturday caused flooding when storm drains couldn't handle the runoff. Then Thursday, nearly 2 inches feIl in the area and the scene was repeated. . "This is the first time they got it two times in a row," said Nick Skifalides, Denver's deputy man- ager of public works. Denver's drainage systems are designed to handle rains of 1 inch per hour - the type of storm that happens every other year or . so. ,) . , ,l i :J The system isn't designed for the types of storms that occurred ' this week, which are expected ev- ~ ery 10 to 20 years, Skifalides said. , "The inlets are adequate, but ' we got so much water coming down the street the majority of it can't go in the inlets, and the water concentrates in a low-lying area, which is Lipan and Evans," Skifalides said. Public works crews used a vac- uum pump to remove silt, wood, rocks and other debris from streets Friday to make sure noth- ing would clog the drain system if another deluge comes. That's what worried Dardano, who stayed at her business into the evening Friday, warily watch- ing the threatening clouds. .