Five of the worst floods in New Mexico history

Ruidoso has been deluged by floods this year and last, due in part to the burn scars left by the South Fork and Salt fires in 2024. But even before those fires, Ruidoso has been prone to flooding and the village is noted in several of the worst flooding events in New Mexico’s history. Take a look.

1941: The wettest year on record

On Sept. 29, 1941, actors Clark Gable and Carole Lombard stopped in Albuquerque en route to Canada. They were going on a hunting trip with another couple when their plane was grounded because of “bad weather conditions to the east” in New Mexico. “Several hundred” fans reportedly swarmed their hotel seeking autographs from the King of Hollywood and Lombard, known for her roles in screwball comedies.

That bad weather? It was a part of the wettest year on record for New Mexico.

Over 27 inches of rain dropped over the state in 1941, according to the National Weather Service. There were two periods of heavy flooding: May and September.

“Flood Waters Rising at Roswell, Carlsbad” the front page of a September 1941 issue of the Journal warned.

September’s flooding killed 15 people and caused $2 million in property damages. In Carlsbad, one of the towns hardest hit, highway and bridge damage cut off communications, according to a Sept. 23, 1941, Journal article.

“Bridge washouts in the Carlsbad and Roswell regions halted most traffic there and high water ran over U.S. 87 and N.M. 18, leading west and south of Clayton in Union County,” the article states.

“The water poured Saturday night off the Guadalupe mountains, where one of a series of New Mexico cloudbursts struck,” a Sunday, Sept. 21, 1941, Journal article reads. The day prior, flooding in Carlsbad caused 11 fatalities, according to the NWS. In Albuquerque, a major gas line broke, impacting service for 10 days.

1965: Early summer floods

The front page of the June 19, 1965, edition of the Albuquerque Journal is full of flood stories, all centered around a black and white photo of a car flipped upside-down on the banks of the Cimarron River in northern New Mexico.

The caption stated the car’s owner had climbed up a tree when the flood hit.

“The third major storm in three days drove a record rainfall into northeastern New Mexico Friday, pushing water over the top of Lake Maloya near Raton and turning rivers into raging torrents that washed out bridges, isolated town and washed cars off highways,” a front page story stated.

June 1965’s flood events came on the heels of “an unusually wet spring,” according to the National Weather Service.

The flooding killed 28 people in Colorado and two men near Raton, and caused tens of millions of dollars in damages, according to the NWS.

According to Journal archives, a cloudburst hit parts of Ruidoso, causing simultaneous, but unrelated, flooding events in that part of the state.

1978: Sudden storms melt snow pack“We’re busy trying to save lives. We’ll talk to the news media later,” an Arizona spokesperson rebuffed an Associated Press reporter in December 1978. Precipitation hit parts of Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, melting snow and sending water rushing down mountainsides.

On Dec. 19, 1978, then-Gov. Jerry Apodaca declared a state emergency for Grant and Catron counties and for Ruidoso, according to the AP via Journal archives. As of Dec. 20, only one bridge in Ruidoso was “passable” as rescue crews worked to evacuate people from the Upper Canyon area.

The Gila River swelled and many of its tributaries washed out bridges, ripped through farmland and closed roads, trails and campgrounds. Near Redrock in Grant County, the NWS recorded the Gila at almost a mile wide where it was usually five to six feet from bank to bank.

2006: ‘Remarkably persistent’ monsoon season

Teresina Franzoy was 94 when she talked to the Journal about a lake appearing in her Hatch Valley backyard following thunderstorms in 2006.

“First we cry for water and then we cry because there’s too much water,” she told the Journal. “God just can’t please everybody.”

What meteorologists called “a remarkably persistent monsoon regime” dumped heavy rainfall across the state in the summer of 2006. Glenwood, in Catron County, received three times its average amount of rain, while Albuquerque, Grants, Ruidoso and Deming saw double their rain average.

One flood event on Aug. 15, 2006, brought “chest-high” waters to the small farming community in Hatch, breaking an arroyo and shutting down all streets into the village.

“Hatch is under water,” then-county spokesman Jess Williams told the Journal in 2006.

Water was reportedly four feet deep in some parts of town and forced evacuations into Hatch Valley High School.

2008: Texas hurricane brings storms into region

National Guard rescue teams swirled above Upper Canyon in Ruidoso, rescuing 170 people from the campgrounds, trapped by a “swollen” Rio Ruidoso. Some 200 campers opted to stay behind and wait for the Rio Ruidoso to recede.

When Hurricane Dolly made landfall on July 23, 2008, in South Texas, it swept tropical moisture into New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service. Ruidoso received 7 inches of rain following Dolly’s ascent north.

One man was swept away in the Rio Ruidoso, and the raging river also washed out at least 13 bridges in town. Damages were estimated to be $25 million.

“Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs are the most resilient people in the world,” then-Ruidoso Mayor L. Ray Nunley said in a 2008 Journal article. “We’re going to deal with it”

The Rio Ruidoso rose to 12.08 feet on July 27, 2008 — the highest level not related to a burn scar.