New Mexico residents watch in shock as flash flood sweeps entire house downstream
Nervous chatter filled the taproom at Downshift Brewing Company, where about 50 people were sheltering from monsoon rains that caused the Rio Ruidoso to swell to more than six metres on Tuesday, a tentative record.
The gasps in the room grew louder as an entire house floated by, knocking down trees in its path.
The turquoise paint on the front door of the single-storey white house with brown slats was barely visible under layers of mud.
But local artist Kaitlyn Carpenter, who was filming the flooding on her phone, recognized it immediately as the family home of one of her best friends.
"I've been in that house and have memories in that house, so seeing it come down the river was just pretty heartbreaking," she said. "I just couldn't believe it."
A symbol of flood's destruction
No one was inside the house that day. Carpenter says her friend stays elsewhere during the summer since the mountain town is prone to flooding.
Images and video she took of the house have been widely shared as a stark symbol of the flood's destruction.
Three people at a riverside RV park died after being swept away in the river, including two children. Dozens of homes have been damaged, and streets were clogged with mud and debris.
Farther down the river, pieces of metal and other debris were twisted around tree trunks.
Broken tree limbs were wedged against homes and piled on porches. The water was thick with sediment and many roads remained closed Wednesday.
The popular summer destination has been especially vulnerable to flooding since last summer, when the South Fork and Salt fires raced across tinder-dry forest and destroyed hundreds of homes. Residents were forced to flee a wall of flames, only to grapple with intense flooding later that summer.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
17 hours ago
- CTV News
Snow Lake mayor describes second wildfire evacuation as ‘frustrating'
Mayor Ron Scott shares how the town is handling its second evacuation as wildfires rage, and a new state of emergency is declared.
CTV News
a day ago
- CTV News
Wildfires force evacuations at Grand Canyon and Black Canyon of the Gunnison parks
This image provided by Eddie Vallee and taken from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona shows smoke over the park's North Rim on Thursday, July 10, 2025.(Eddie Vallee via AP) JACOB LAKE, Ariz. — Visitors and staff at two national parks in the U.S. West have been evacuated because of wildfires. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, about 260 miles (418 kilometres) southwest of Denver, closed Thursday morning after lighting sparked blazes on both rims, the park said. The wildfire on the South Rim has burned 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometres), with no containment of the perimeter. The conditions there have been ripe for wildfire with hot temperatures, low humidity, gusty winds and dry vegetation, the park said, adding that weather will remain a concern Friday. The Grand Canyon's North Rim in Arizona also closed Thursday because of a wildfire on adjacent Bureau of Land Management land near Jacob Lake. The Coconino County Sheriff's Office said it helped evacuate people from an area north of Jacob Lake and campers in the Kaibab National Forest nearby. The fire began Wednesday evening after a thunderstorm moved through the area, fire officials said. It has burned about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometres) with zero containment. The Associated Press
Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Globe and Mail
Deadly New Mexico flood damaged at least 200 homes, number could rise as officials survey aftermath
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 neighbourhoods. 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.' 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 six metres on Tuesday to set a record. Officials said the area received about nine centimetres 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.' The river runs thick with sediment that can settle and raise future water levels. Stansbury said already-promised federal funding to remove silt from the riverbed would help mitigate future flooding, but that the community would need continued help for the next decade after suffering successive catastrophes. Lujan Grisham said the federal government likely will advance US$15-million – from the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency – to jumpstart recovery efforts. That amount could climb to more than US$100-million in the coming months as Ruidoso tries to rebuild and mitigate future floods. The governor said officials need to rethink how funding is doled out to reduce the risks of future flooding, in efforts that might restore watersheds and forests. Ruidoso has also recently requested US$100-million in federal aid to convert flood-prone private land to public property after successive years of violent flooding. The mayor emphasized Thursday that the flood damage was far greater than he and others had realized, highlighting damage to water lines and distribution points for potable drinking water. 'Things have changed,' Crawford said. 'There was a lot more damage than what we had assumed and what we thought in the beginning. ... We've had to take a step back to move forward.'
