Flash flooding in New Mexico resort town traps dozens in homes and vehicles
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There were no immediate confirmed reports of deaths or injuries from the July 8 flooding.
PHOTO: REUTERS
RUIDOSO, New Mexico - Flash flooding triggered by heavy monsoon rains in New Mexico trapped dozens of people in homes and vehicles in and around mountain resort village Ruidoso on July 8, a state emergency official said.
A house was swept away,
Video footage on social media showed the house, ripped from its foundations, careening downstream through the muddy waters of the Rio Ruidoso, side-swiping trees as it went.
“I’ve seen the video. We don’t know if anyone was in the house,” said Ms Danielle Silva, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
There were no immediate confirmed reports of deaths or injuries from the July 8 flooding.
Emergency teams and the National Guard conducted at least 85 swift-water rescues in and around Ruidoso. Many victims were stranded in cars and homes, Ms Silva added.
She said the river quickly rose by a provisional record of 6.2m at the peak of the late-afternoon flood. As waters began to recede in the evening, authorities were starting to search through debris for survivors.
She added that the severity of the debris flow was heightened by a landscape stripped of vegetation in a wildfire that occurred in June 2024. This was followed soon after by a round of flooding that badly eroded the soil.
Ruidoso is a popular summer retreat and ski resort in the Sierra Blanca mountain range of south-central New Mexico about 185km south of Albuquerque, the state’s largest city.
The latest flooding there occurred four days after a flash flood triggered by torrential rains along the Guadalupe River ravaged a swathe of Texas Hill Country, killing at least 109 people and leaving scores missing. REUTERS