Ruidoso, New Mexico Latest Place To Get Slammed By Flash Flood (Again!)

Screen grab from a video showing a 
house being swept downstream during
flash flooding in Ruidoso, New Mexico
Tuesday. The community has been hit
by repeated flash floods and debris
flows and Tuesday's was the worst yet.

The mountain town of Ruidoso, New Mexico once again been ravaged by floods and debris flows Tuesday, killing three people and destroying houses.

The deaths included a brother and sister, ages 4 and 7, continuing another horrible trend we've seen this summer of children frequently falling victims to floods and other disasters,   

Between 50 and 60 people had to be rescued from the swift flowing water. 

The main river in the area, the Rio Ruidoso, experienced a record high crest of 20.24 feet during the abrupt Tuesday flood. That's five feet higher than the previous record. 

Several homes were flattened or carried downstream. One widely circulated video shows a home racing along in the rapids and smashing into trees. 

Up to 2.5 inches of rain fell on wildfire-revaged hillsides above town, sending the water crashing through the community of about 8,000 people. 

 Moisture from the remnants of last week's Tropical Storm Barry continue to linger over the Southwest, which contributed to the flood in Ruidoso.

 Those Barry remnants were also a key ingredient to the catastrophic, deadly floods in the Texas Hill Country over the weekend. 

Tuesday's flood was the worst in a series of such floods since a June, 2024 wildfire in and near the town left the community vulnerable to these floods.

Per the Washington Post; 

"Last year's fires burned almost a thousand homes and killed two people. They also left Ruidoso and its population of almost 8,000 people particularly vulnerable to flash flooding, with the destruction of trees and a change in soil composition leaving the hillsides less able to absorb rain. Over the weeks that followed the fires, the scenic town was hit with multiple floods."

It's been an extremely month so far for flooding in the United States. The National Weather Service has received more than 300 reports of flooding since Friday. 

Elsewhere, parts of Chicago were swamped by more than five inches of rain in just an hour and a half. Areas just to the west of the Loop got the most, with numerous reports of people being rescued from flooded cars and buildings.

The flood was very localized, with Midway and O'Hare Airports a little to the northeast of the storm reporting less than a tenth of an inch of rain 

 Late this afternoon, a broad swath of the Mid-Atlantic States were under the gun for what could well be a widespread and serious flash flood event. As of 5 p.m. a large area of torrential thunderstorms was moving through West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, and new flash flood warning were being hastily issued.

I think it was about this time last year I called it the summer of flash floods. This year is even worse in the United States, apparently.  

New Mexico Continues To Endure Post Wildfire Flash Floods, Video Shows How Fast They Come

 A  gorgeous area of southern New Mexico can't catch a weather break.  

A motorist wisely turns around as floodwaters surge
across a road in Riuidoso, New Mexico las 
Saturday. The road was dry and clear three minutes earlier.

I told you back on July 4 about Ruidoso, New Mexico, which keeps getting hit by floods after wildfires in the surrounding hills. As of the Fourth of July, the denuded hillsides yielded flash floods and debris flows as downpours hit the area.  

Since then, it's kept getting worse. 

Says the Washington Post:

Ruidoso, a scenic town of nearly 8,000 in southern New Mexico, is now at the mercy of an enduring, double-barreled disaster. Two massive fires broke out last month along the mountains encircling the town, torching more than 25,000 acres, burning nearly a thousand homes and killing two people.

Then, eight times and counting since June 21, including Saturday, floodwaters have cascaded down those same mountainsides into the village."

The trees and shrubs that held the steep hillsides surrounding Ruidoso used to keep the rocks and soil up there in place. The fires removed all that. So now, as Andrew Mangham, a National Weather Service hydrologist told the Washington Post, it's as if giant plastic sheets have been placed over the mountains. 

Those "plastic sheets" are littered with teetering burned tree trunks and piles ash that start sliding downhill at the slightest bit of bad weather. Which means even run of the mill routine summer thunderstorms are setting off the flash floods and big debris flows. 

Flooding this past Saturday was probably the worst yet.   Rain Friday night and early Saturday soaked what little ground was left, then new downpours struck in the afternoon.  Ruidoso officials said prior to Saturday, the highest the water got in one main creek was 12.5 feet. Saturday, it reached 15.5 feet, so that must have damaged homes worse than previous events.

The video in this link shows what it's like, and is really worth watching.  Notice how fast the water comes up and crossed the road. Also notice the road above the water is dry. All the rain that caused this latest wave hit in the hills above. (I'm having you click on the link to the video rather than just display it so they videographer can collect the clicks and views). 

In the initial part of the video, a couple cars make it through, but afterwards, motorists wisely opted to obey the "Turn Around Don't Drown"  rule. The water and debris quickly overruns and cuts around temporary dikes built to protect property.

The video is a cautionary tale for anyone, anywhere demonstrating how suddenly a flash flood goes from not a big deal to big time dangerous.

The videographer of the above, Jesus Figuera, has a whole YouTube channel devoted to what Ruidoso is going through, and it's definitely worth checking out. 

It's monsoon season in the Southwest, which means the area is in for more downpours, and more floods.  It will take years for the hills around Ruidoso to recover enough to hold water and soil in place.