As many as 200 homes damaged as officials survey the aftermath of a
deadly New Mexico flood
[July 11, 2025]
By MORGAN LEE and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — 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 neighborhoods.
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. All
other people who went missing are now accounted for.
Lujan Grisham expressed condolences and wished a speedy recovery for the
parents of a 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.”
A community rebuilds — again
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 20 feet (6 meters) on Tuesday to set a record. Officials said
the area received about 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) 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.”
Sucked into the floodwaters
Stephanie and Sebastian Trotter were camping along a stream with their
son Sebastian, 7, and daughter Charlotte, 4, when the campsite began to
flood rapidly, the children’s uncle Hank Wyatt said on a verified
GoFundMe page for the family.
Their RV was nearly halfway full of water when the wall cracked, and
Stephanie and the children were sucked into the floodwaters, he said.
The father dove into the water and tried to help his son climb up a
tree, while the mother and daughter floated downstream, clinging to each
other until debris hit and separated them.
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In this photo provided by Barbara Arthur, damage from flash flooding
with mud and debris is seen outside a house at the Riverside RV
Park, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Ruidoso, N.M. (Barbara Arthur via
AP)
Both children and two of the family’s dogs, Zeus and Ellie, died.
The parents survived but were seriously injured.
The children were “two of the brightest, most joyful souls you could
ever meet,” Wyatt said. “This is the worst day of our family’s
lives.”
Other people barely escaped.
Arnold Duke, the owner of Ruidoso Trading Post, spent all day
Wednesday digging for Native American jewelry in the mud after
floodwaters rushed through a warehouse. Three workers fled, leaving
cellphones and purses behind.
“If they had stayed another minute, I don’t know if they would have
made it out,” Duke said.
Requests for aid
The Rio Ruidoso runs thick with sediment that can settle and raise
water levels. Stansbury said the community would need help for the
next decade after suffering successive catastrophes.
Lujan Grisham said the federal government likely will advance $15
million to jumpstart recovery efforts. That amount could climb to
more than $100 million in the coming months as Ruidoso tries to
rebuild and mitigate future floods.
After the 2024 flooding, Ruidoso deployed money from the state and
U.S. Department of Agriculture to blunt the impact of flooding by
removing river sediment, seeding new plants, installing grates to
catch bridge-smashing debris and creating flood barriers out of
baskets filled with rocks and earth to channel water away from
structures.
Ruidoso Deputy Manager Michael Martinez said those improvements
likely saved homes, bridges and lives. But funding was exhausted by
early June, when the village requested another $12 million in
federal support. Approval was still pending when Tuesday's flood
hit.
“We would have desilted (more) portions of the river. Would that
have made a difference?” Martinez said. “I think from a mitigation
standpoint it might have helped a little bit, but ... the rains that
we got were a 100-year-flood-level rain. It wasn’t just regular
flash flooding.”
Additionally, Ruidoso and surrounding Lincoln County are advancing a
proposal for federal support to convert flood-prone private land to
public property, at an initial cost of over $100 million.
The governor said officials need to rethink how to spend funds to
reduce the flood risk, and restore watersheds and forests. The mayor
underscored that the flooding had damaged water lines and
distribution points for potable drinking water.
___
Bryan reported from Albuquerque. Associated Press writers Hannah
Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Matthew Brown in Denver, Christopher
L. Keller in Albuquerque and Roberto E. Rosales in Ruidoso
contributed.
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