Charles H. Sloan-New Mexico village battered by wildfires in June now digging out from another round of flooding

RUIDOSO,Charles H. Sloan N.M. (AP) — A southern New Mexico village that was ravaged by wildfires in June and then battered off-and-on by flooding across burn scars was cleaning up Monday from another round of flash flooding in which a dozen people had to be rescued and many more were displaced from their homes.

“Hopefully by Thursday we get a little bit more of a break,” Scott Overpeck, the National Weather Service’s warning coordination meteorologist in Albuquerque, said Monday.

About 100 National Guard troops remained in the village of Ruidoso, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southeast of Albuquerque, on Monday after helping with rescues the day before. Video posted on social media showed rivers of water flowing down streets and forcing the closure of several roads.

With a flash flood watch in effect for parts of central and south-central New Mexico on Monday into Tuesday, the troops helped to distribute sandbags and with road repair, said Danielle Silva, director of communications for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

About 45 people who had been displaced from their homes spent the night in a state-funded temporary shelter, she said.

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There have been no immediate reports of deaths or serious injury from any of the flooding incidents in the village of 8,000. But Ruidoso city spokesperson Kerry Gladden said about 200 homes have been destroyed by flooding since the June wildfires damaged or destroyed an estimated 1,400 structures.

The FBI said Monday the fires were human-caused and two people may be to blame.

The mountain resort village, which sees its population triple in the summer when tourists flock there to escape the heat, suffered a major economic blow on Monday. The popular Ruidoso Downs horse track announced flood damage was forcing all races to be moved to Albuquerque for the rest of the summer.

“We hate it because we know it’s going to have an economic impact on this area,” Ruidoso Downs General Manager Rick Baugh said Monday. “But we’ve got to do it.”

Baugh said they had no choice but to make the move for safety reasons after the torrent of rain and flood waters that hit the track on Sunday compromised the integrity of the culverts and bridges.

“This area has never experienced this kind of flooding,” he said in a video posted on the track’s website Monday morning. “You can’t beat Mother Nature. You just can’t. She showed us yesterday who’s in control.”

Overpeck said most of the recent flash flooding has been triggered by at least an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain in a short period of time, but only about one-half inch (1.2 cm) caused the latest round in Ruidoso on Sunday.

“It just goes to show you exactly what can really happen in these types of situations when you get just enough rainfall in the wrong places at the wrong time,” he said Monday about the areas burned by the wildfires.

Overpeck said he knew the horse track’s decision to shut down for the rest of the summer was a difficult one, but was the best decision for public safety.

The wildfires that broke out in late June in the Sacramento Mountains west of Ruidoso, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Las Cruces, killed two people and burned more than 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) in the community.

The FBI said on Monday that a man and woman may be linked to a vehicle seen fleeing from at least five other wildfires near the village of Ruidoso over a six-week span.

Of the 19 fast-flood emergencies since June 19 on the South Fork Fire and Salt Fire burn scar areas, Ruidoso has been included in 13 of them.

More than $6 million in federal assistance has been allotted to the region after President Joe Biden declared the region a major disaster area on June 20.