Heavy rain in southern New Mexico on Thursday caused flash flooding and led to water rescues, less than a month after severe flooding in the area killed three people and damaged dozens of homes.
Emergency workers in Lincoln County, N.M., rescued five people from the water, according to Kerry Gladden, a spokeswoman for the city of Ruidoso. Fourteen evacuees from Ruidoso, a small city about 130 miles southeast of Albuquerque, were headed to temporary shelters, she said, noting that there had been no reports of injury or death related to the flooding.
The authorities opened shelters at the Ruidoso Community Center and Eastern New Mexico University, according to an online post by the Lincoln County Fire Service. Local officials were not sure of the extent of the damage, Ms. Gladden said.
The flooding on Thursday was far less severe than on July 8, when the Rio Ruidoso, a 30-mile river threading through the Sierra Blanca and Sacramento Mountains, rose to 20 feet. Three people were killed and at least 35 homes were damaged or swept downriver by floodwaters during that storm. On Thursday, the river rose to just over 12 feet before quickly receding.
On Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning along the South Fork burn scar region of southern New Mexico, which includes the towns of Ruidoso, Glencoe and Hollywood.
The floodwaters started to recede by just after 2 p.m., Ms. Gladden said. A light rain was still falling, but crews were starting to clear debris from the roads, she said.
The area where the flooding occurred on Thursday has been scorched by wildfires in the past few years, making them more vulnerable to flash flooding.
Hannah Ziegler is a general assignment reporter for The Times, covering topics such as crime, business, weather, pop culture and online trends.
The post Storms in New Mexico Cause Flash Flooding and Water Rescues appeared first on New York Times.
