The alpine resort village of Ruidoso, N.M., was pummeled by flash floods again Tuesday, after “burn scars” from the South Fork and Salt wildfires left the soil unable to absorb rainfall, upending recovery efforts and underscoring the growing climate risks to tourist-dependent towns.
Burned soil can be as water-repellent as pavement, according to the National Weather Service, and it doesn’t require a lot of rainfall to produce a flash flood. Tuesday’s deluge isn’t the first Ruidoso has encountered: Evacuation orders were issued for flash flooding in June as authorities were still battling blazes in the area.
Bjorn Adolpho, a 36-year-old construction worker, was working on a job replacing wooden retaining walls destroyed by the wildfires in a Ruidoso neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon.
He was returning from lunch shortly after 1 p.m. when it began to rain. Within minutes, he said, he could see water cascading down the mountainside across burned-out areas. Unable to return to the job site as the roads became slick with mud, he backtracked through the village to a crossing where he was stopped by floodwaters.
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End of carouselA torrent of muddy water gushed down the road toward a narrow bridge, filled with railway ties and other construction debris. Videos he posted on social media highlight the extent of the devastation. In one such video, a double garage is torn from its foundations and swept into the fast-moving waters. Within moments, only its red-pitched roof was visible above the floodwaters. Another shows the rainfall runoff streaming like braided rivers through the remains of burned-out houses.
Adolpho said he iss struggling to get his head around the new reality for the fire-ravaged area: What would previously have been considered “just a regular amount of rain” now can quickly cause major damage as debris piles up around bridges and streets are gummed up with mud. “So then everything around you starts flooding,” he said.
The time between the start of the rainfall and the flash flooding was about a half-hour, he estimated. With no time to react, he left his tools on the job site. He also saw a man rescued from a home where he had been trapped with his dog. Adolpho was relieved to learn later that the man was okay.
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A flash flood warning was in place until 6 p.m. Tuesday, with residents advised to avoid burn-scarred areas and to move to higher ground. No injuries were reported. A flood watch remains in place through Wednesday for parts of New Mexico, with weather officials warning that torrential rainfall rates up to two inches per hour would create the kind of runoff that could produce more flash flooding. Many people left the area during the wildfires and have not yet returned, or they have no homes to return to, Adolpho said.
What’s happening here underscores the compounding risks of climate change in small communities that are reliant on tourism. Normally at this time of the year, Ruidoso, a town of about 7,700 people, would be buzzing with visitors.
Adolpho said it’s a popular haunt for Texans who frequent the racetrack, casino and golf course resorts. But this year, they are staying away, even after the fires have been contained.
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“If no one comes to town and no one’s spending any money, these guys are going out of business,” he said. Some residents are leaving, too.
Adolpho, a Hawaii native, has lived in the area about seven years with his wife and four children. He applied for a job as a maintenance worker for the log cabin homes that are normally rented by summer tourists, but they are all empty after the fires and the floods.
“Jobs are tough,” he said.
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