ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Weather officials warned Monday that much of New Mexico will face an increased risk of dangerous flooding for two more days, similar to the floodwaters last weekend that caused extensive damage, forced 100 people to be rescued and left parts of a town recently ravaged by wildfires covered in mud and debris.
The body of one person was recovered Sunday from the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, but it was not immediately clear if the death was related to the flooding, according to Albuquerque Fire Rescue and Bernalillo County Fire Rescue. The death was still under investigation and no other details were released.
Much of central New Mexico remained under a flood warning through Tuesday, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas and Ruidoso.
“There are very few parts of the state that have been immune to the impacts,” said Daniel Porter, the senior meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque. “Unfortunately, the threat will likely remain very high for the next several days, at least through Wednesday,” he told reporters at a briefing Monday.
Porter said the threat would ease briefly on Thursday because of the Fourth of July, but increase again over the weekend.
The downpours have caused the most damage in areas of New Mexico where wildfires have stripped mountainsides of trees, brush and grass. Damage is also extensive in northern New Mexico, where a historic fire tore through communities in 2022, and in the town of Ruidoso, where residents were forced to flee from rapidly spreading flames just weeks ago.
“Some of the damage I saw was just, just shocking. Some of it was just breathtaking,” Andrew Mangham, a senior hydrologist for the weather service, said Monday after visiting some of the hardest-hit areas Sunday.
“There’s just total devastation” in parts of Ruidoso, he said.
There have been no reports of serious injuries.
National Guard spokesman Hank Minitrez confirmed that troops helped rescue at least 100 people stranded in vehicles or otherwise by floodwaters over the weekend, primarily in the Ruidoso area.
Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said he had “never seen anything like it.”
“It was madness,” he told KRUI Radio on Monday.
According to Ruidoso spokesperson Kerry Gladden, there were 26 water rescues in their community on Saturday alone, and 51 on Sunday.
“We were incredibly lucky that there were no injuries. We didn’t have to take anyone to the hospital,” she said, adding that they didn’t have an immediate estimate of the water damage.
“That will take days,” she said Monday evening.
Mayor Tim Keller reported Sunday that Albuquerque’s police department and City Hall sustained flood damage over the weekend.
Albuquerque was hit by quarter-sized hail and 60 mph (97 km/h) winds late Saturday night, according to the National Weather Service.
Heavy rain and a severe thunderstorm caused flooding in many parts of the city and toppled electricity poles, leaving some 20,000 residents without power for hours.
Keller said the basements of Albuquerque City Hall and Police Department were flooded, but there is no immediate damage estimate yet.
