Crews clear mudslide in mountains north of Taos

New Mexico Department of Transportation crews worked into the early morning hours on Friday to clear a mudslide that sent dozens of boulders skidding into a large section of highway between Questa and Red River, north of Taos, Thursday evening.

Red River Marshal Jason Rael said dispatchers relayed a report of the slide near mile marker 9 on N.M. 38 to his office around 7 p.m. Thursday.

“We were there for hours,” Rael said. “We had to close the road and were assisted by area first responders who came out. The highway department came, and they stayed working to clear the road till, like, 1 o’clock in the morning.”

The slide did not result in any injuries or property damage.

This winding section of highway, which connects the high-mountain town of Red River to the neighboring village of Questa 12 miles east, is located in a historical flood plain, making it prone to erosion and mudslides.

Rael estimated the roadway is impacted by a major slide about twice a year during the state’s monsoon season, which on average lasts from around mid-June through the end of September, according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s in the arroyo, and that’s just where all the water collects from the high country,” Rael explained. “It’s kind of the only outlet there is.”

NMDOT District 5 Public Information Officer James Murray told the Journal that monsoon storms have been especially intense this year in the skies over Red River and Questa, adding that there’s no easy way to prevent mudslides from occurring during heavy rainfall.

“The only sure solution would be to remove the hillside, but no one wants to see that happen,” he said. “We do monitor known slide-prone areas on a regular basis and, in the past, have called in specialized contractors to remove small sections of a hillside that we feel could pose a potential problem in the near future.”

Murray and Rael both emphasized that drivers must remain vigilant during monsoon season.

“When you come upon it, if you can turn around and go the opposite direction, that’s going to be the safest thing to do,” Rael said. “Don’t try to go through it because we’ve had it happen before, and it hasn’t had a good outcome.”

“The rocks are too big and can puncture tires and cause damage,” he added. “Vehicles can get disabled, and that just causes more of a problem when we have to clear the obstruction because we already have the slide to deal with.”

Thunderstorms were again in the forecast Friday and Saturday for much of New Mexico, though clearer skies are predicted for the remainder of the weekend and into the early part of next week.

For road updates, visit nmroads.com.