Just days after deadly mass floods in Texas, a flash flood turned deadly in a New Mexico village. Three people are dead after the flooding on Tuesday. Monsoon rains triggered a flood at a village, pushing down debris and mud down a mountainside.
The flood killed two children and a man on Tuesday after floodwaters overwhelmed the village of Ruidoso. Fortunately, no one else has been reported missing. But Mayor Lynn Crawford is mourning the loss of the three who died. The city official is just thankful that more people didn't get hurt.
"As bad as it is, it could have been way worse because people did heed the warning, did get the higher ground," he said during a radio address. "But we do have people that are in greater need today than they were yesterday." Emergency crews completed 85 water rescues after people became trapped by rising floodwaters.
Flash Flood Hits New Mexico
Kaitlyn Carpenter, an artist in Ruidoso, described the chaotic aftermath of the flood. She said she saw a house float by in the water that belonged to her best friend's family. "I've been in that house and have memories in that house, so seeing it come down the river was just pretty heartbreaking," Carpenter said.
Danielle Silva of the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spoke out about the waters. "We know that the water levels seemed to be higher than they were last summer," Silva said. "It is a significant amount of water flowing throughout, some of it in new areas that didn't flood last year."
Meanwhile, the mayor says the flood is a sign of how unpredictable the environment can be.
"Yesterday was a good lesson — you know that Mother Nature is a much bigger powerful force than we are," he said. "And that we can do a lot of things to protect ourselves and to try to help direct and whatever, but we cannot control."
