RUIDOSO, N.M. (AP) — At least 200 homes were damaged during a deadly flash flood in the mountain village of Ruidoso, and local emergency managers warned Wednesday that number could more than double as teams survey more neighborhoods.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was among the officials who took an aerial tour of Ruidoso and the surrounding area as they looked to bolster their case for more federal assistance for the community, which has been battered over the past year by wildfires and repeated flooding.
The governor said the state has received partial approval for a federal emergency declaration, freeing up personnel to help with search and rescue efforts and incident management. She called it the first step, saying Ruidoso will need much more.
"We will continue working with the federal government for every dollar and resource necessary to help this resilient community fully recover from these devastating floods,” she said.
An intense bout of monsoon rains set the disaster in motion Tuesday afternoon. Water rushed from the surrounding mountainside, overwhelming the Rio Ruidoso and taking with it a man and two children who had been camping at a riverside RV park. Their bodies were found downstream. One person is still unaccounted for.
Lujan Grisham expressed her condolences and wished a speedy recovery for the parents of the 4-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy who were killed. She said it will be an emotional journey.
“There are no words that can take away that devastation,” she said. “We are truly heartsick.”
Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, whose district includes Ruidoso and surrounding Lincoln County, told reporters more rain is coming and that residents remain at risk. She urged people to follow emergency orders, saying “we cannot lose another life.”
A community rebuilds — again
Broken tree limbs, twisted metal, crumpled cars and muddy debris remain as crews work to clear roads and culverts wrecked by the flooding.
Tracy Haragan, a lifelong Ruidoso resident on the verge of retirement, watched from his home as a surging river carried away the contents of nine nearby residences.
“You watched everything they owned, everything they had — everything went down,” he said.
A popular summer retreat, Ruidoso is no stranger to tragedy. It has spent a year rebuilding following destructive wildfires last summer and the flooding that followed.
This time, the floodwaters went even higher, with the Rio Ruidoso rising more than 20 feet (6 meters) on Tuesday to set a record. Officials said the area received about 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) of rain over the South Fork burn scar in just an hour and a half.
“It is such a great town, it just takes a tail-whipping every once in a while,” Haragan said. “We always survive.”
Requests for aid
The river runs thick with sediment that can settle and raise water levels. Stansbury said already-promised federal funding to remove silt from the riverbed could mitigate future flooding, but that the community would need help for the next decade after suffering successive catastrophes.
Lujan Grisham said the federal government likely will advance $15 million to jumpstart recovery efforts. That amount could climb to more than $100 million in the coming months as Ruidoso tries to rebuild and mitigate future floods.
After the 2024 flooding, Ruidoso tapped funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve disaster preparedness through sediment removal, seeding new plants, fencing that detains bridge-smashing debris and flood barriers made of bags and boxes filled with rocks, sand or soil to channel water away from structures.
“Some of it did hold up in certain spots, and some of it didn’t,” Ruidoso village spokesperson Kerry Gladden said. “It was just a very powerful surge of water that came down the mountain.”
Additionally, Ruidoso recently requested $100 million in federal aid to convert flood-prone private land to public property after successive years of violent flooding.
The governor said officials need to rethink how to spend funds to reduce the flood risk, and restore watersheds and forests. The mayor underscored that the flooding had damaged water lines and distribution points for potable drinking water.
Jewelry washed away
Arnold Duke, the owner of Ruidoso Trading Post, spent all day Wednesday digging for Native American jewelry in the mud after floodwaters rushed through a warehouse, forcing three employees to flee, leaving their cellphones and purses behind.
“If they had stayed another minute, I don’t know if they would have made it out," Duke said.
Slow-moving floodwaters caused minor problems in the warehouse last year, but this week it was immersed by a wall of water, he said.
Duke estimates they they have recovered about 4,000 of 45,000 pieces of jewelry lost in the flood. The business’ retail store was not flooded.
“It’s never been this big before,” Duke said.
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Lee reported from Santa Fe, and Bryan from Albuquerque. Associated Press writers Matthew Brown in Denver and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque contributed.
Morgan Lee, Susan Montoya Bryan And Roberto E. Rosales, The Associated Press
