A New Mexico village ravaged by wildfires in June is now recovering from a new wave of flooding
RUIDOSO, New Mexico — A southern New Mexico village ravaged by wildfires in June and then hit intermittently by flooding over the burn scars was recovering Monday from a new wave of flash flooding that left a dozen people rescued and many more displaced from their homes.
“I’m hoping that by Thursday we’ll have a little more breathing room,” Scott Overpeck, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said Monday.
About 100 National Guard troops remained in the town of Ruidoso, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southeast of Albuquerque, Monday after helping with rescue operations the day before. Video posted on social media showed rivers of water flowing through the streets and forcing several road closures.
With a flash flood warning in effect for parts of central and south-central New Mexico from Monday through Tuesday, troops helped distribute sandbags and repair roads, said Danielle Silva, communications director for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
About 45 people displaced from their homes spent the night in a state-funded temporary shelter, she said.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries from the flooding in the village of 8,000 people. But Ruidoso city spokesman Kerry Gladden said about 200 homes have been destroyed by flooding since the outbreak began. Forest fires in June About 1,400 structures were damaged or destroyed.
The FBI said Monday that the fires were human-caused and two people can be to blame.
The ski resort, whose population triples in summer as tourists flock there to escape the heat, took an economic hit Monday. Ruidoso Downs Racetrack announced that flood damage was forcing all racing to be moved to Albuquerque for the rest of the summer.
“We hate it because we know it’s going to have an economic impact on this area,” Ruidoso Downs General Manager Rick Baugh said Monday. “But we have to do it.”
Baugh said they had no choice but to move for safety reasons after the torrent of rain and floodwaters that hit the track Sunday compromised the integrity of culverts and bridges.
“This area has never seen this kind of flooding,” he said in a video posted on the track’s website Monday morning. “You can’t beat Mother Nature. There’s just no way. She showed us yesterday who’s in control.”
Overpeck said most recent flash floods have been triggered by at least an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain over a short period of time, but only about a half-inch (1.2 centimeters) caused the latest surge in Ruidoso on Sunday.
“It shows exactly what can actually happen in these kinds of situations when you get just enough precipitation in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said Monday of areas burned by wildfires.
Overpeck said he knew the decision to close the racetrack for the remainder of the summer was difficult, but it was the best decision for public safety.
Wildfires that broke out in late June in the Sacramento Mountains west of Ruidoso, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Las Cruces, have killed two people and burned more than 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) in the community.
The FBI said Monday that a man and woman may be linked to a vehicle seen fleeing at least five other wildfires near the village of Ruidoso over a six-week period.
Of the 19 flash flood emergencies that have occurred since June 19 in areas affected by the South Fork and Salt Fires, Ruidoso has been included in 13 of them.
More than $6 million in federal aid has been allocated to the region after President Joe Biden declared the area a major disaster area on June 20.
