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WED: Rainstorms over NM pose flood threats again in wildfire burn scars, +more

The sun peeks through clouds building up. Storms across the state Wednesday and Thursday pose flooding threats, especially in areas hit by wildfire
Danielle Prokop
/
Source New Mexico
The sun peeks through clouds building up. Storms across the state Wednesday and Thursday pose flooding threats, especially in areas hit by wildfire

Rainstorms over NM pose flood threats again in wildfire burn scars - by Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico

New Mexicans in the northern and southern parts of the state scorched by recent wildfires remain at risk for potentially intense flash flooding from storms Wednesday and Thursday.

Numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected across much of the state beginning at noon Wednesday that could cause harm for people living in the burn scars of the 2022 Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire and the South Fork and Salt fires still burning in Lincoln County.

Weather officials are also concerned about degraded soils, downed trees and still saturated land after storms last week for areas around both Ruidoso and Las Vegas.

Flooding over the weekend prompted evacuations from Las Vegas and caused water contamination in the town of more than 13,000 people. In Ruidoso, multiple people needed swift-water rescues after flash flooding there last week.

Storms are expected on Wednesday and Thursday, potentially creating unsafe flooding conditions in both southern and northern New Mexico areas hit by fires. (Courtesy of the National Weather Service Office in Albuquerque) The storms are expected to start again around noon on Wednesday, and continue into Thursday, said Joshua Schroeder, the science and operations officer at the National Weather Service Albuquerque office.

“When the storms pop up, they’re just going to kind of sit there until they either drift a little bit or kind of rain themselves out,” Schroeder said. “That’s a potentially dangerous situation.”

The storms could drop as much as 2 inches of rain per hour, according to the forecat. Storms may intensify Thursday, into potentially severe thunderstorms with some chances for hail around Las Vegas.

Burn scars are uniquely vulnerable to flash flooding, which can create dangerous debris flows that contain loose soils and downed trees.

“The soils where the burns have occurred, especially the recent ones, they don’t absorb water,” Schroeder said. “It’s almost like glass and water just runs right off of it to the nearest canyon or culvert or arroyo.”

The U.S. Geological Survey, which helps monitor stream gages across the country, is deploying a team to show what flood conditions look like in streams near the South Fork and Salt fires burn scars.

Instead of posting levels every hour, the team will allow four gages around Ruidoso to transmit data every 15 minutes.

Faster monitoring can mean more warning for issuing potential evacuations or other emergency measures, said Andrew Mangham, senior service hydrologist at the National Weather Service.

“When things are calm, it is fine for them to transmit once an hour. When things get like this, where we really need to rely on those gages almost as an alert network, then we need faster transmission,” Mangham said. “The USGS is getting out there and getting into potentially dangerous area to go ahead and change that transmission time, for us to stay aware.”

Get the latest:Weather alerts can be found on www.weather.gov/abq and on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration All Hazards Weather Radio stations.

Regional stations include Albuquerque at FM 162.4, call sign WXJ-34. For Ruidoso and Santa Fe, the station is FM 162.5, call sign WXJ-33.

Floodwaters move deceptively fast. It only takes 1 foot of floodwater to move a car, and 6 inches to knock a person down. Do not drive across flooded areas.

Las Vegas City officials urge water conservation as available supply dwindles Las Vegas Optic

Las Vegas city officials are urging more water conservation and supplies dwindle following flooding that dumped ash and wildfire burn scar debris into the Gallinas River.

The Las Vegas Optic reports that overwhelmed the city’s reservoirs and water treatment capabilities. As of yesterday there were just over 3 million gallons of usable water at the treatment plant and the city could run out of water by the end of the week.

None-essential business have been shut down and citizens are being asked to use water only for consumption, personal hygiene, medical needs and meal preparation.

Bottled water is. Being distributed daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Robertson High School on a first-come first-served basis.

NM offers unemployment benefits for South Fork and Salt fires, flood losses - by Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico

Otero County was added to the federal disaster declaration in the wake of the South Fork and Salt fires, according to an amendment filed Monday.

This means that spending by Lincoln and Otero counties, along with the Mescalero Apache Tribe to address the fires and floods from last week will be eligible for assistance from the U.S. government. People living in those areas will also be able to seek direct aid, such as unemployment payments.

The South Fork and Salt fires have burned a combined 25,000 acres in the past week. The fires displaced thousands of people around Ruidoso and destroyed more than 1,400 structures. Storms stalled the fire and rain runoff from the Sacramento Mountains flooded the area. People are just now returning to the damage caused by the fire and rain in parts of the Village of Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs.

Unemployment assistance from the state is now set up for people losing wages from their displacement last week and moving forward.

This is for people living in Lincoln and Otero counties or on Mescalero Apache that are workers or business-owners.

People are urged to file as soon as possible to meet an Aug. 19 deadline. Any applications filed after Aug. 19, 2024 may be considered “untimely,” and may be denied, according to a press release from the Department of Workforce Solutions.

Keep the rejection letterIt’s a two-step process to qualify for the financial benefits.

First, people must apply for Standard Unemployment Insurance online at https://www.jobs.state.nm.us, in-person at a New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions office, or calling the Unemployment Insurance Operations number at 1-877-664-6984.

To qualify for the disaster benefits, the state agency will first reject the application for the Standard Unemployment Insurance. Only then, can people apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance.

All disaster benefit applications are accepted in-person or by phone, as a fraud prevention measure, according to a press release from the agency.

The assistance is available from June 23, 2024 until December 21, 2024, as long as unemployment is related to the fire and flood disasters.

It offers unemployment benefits to people who worked or self-employed before the disasters, or were set to do so, and who are already not qualifying for unemployment and its extensions.

To receive benefits, applications must show how their ability to work was impacted by the fire.

This can include if people were unable to travel to their workplace due to evacuation areas or federal, state and local closures; can no longer perform work as a result of the disasters or destruction of the workplace; were injured due to the disaster; or had to become the main income source for their family.

Proof of employment documents must be submitted to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions within three weeks after filing for disaster unemployment benefits.

Examples of correct documents the state wants include:

Recent payroll vouchers.Employment and earnings statements with a name, address and contact information for the employer. Written statement from employer.Business records including bank statements, receipts, licenses, advertisements, invoices, financial statements or appointment books.Notarized statements with name, address and contact information of a person who can verify self-employment or unemployment. For anyone who is self-employed: a 2023 federal income tax return and schedule can be used as proof of prior wages, but is not acceptable for proof of employment.

The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions set up an office in the Roswell Convention center, and deployed a van with computers onboard to assist with applications, said Stacy Johnston, a spokesperson for the agency.

“We also have all of our Workforce Connection Centers, minus Ruidoso, available to help,” she said.

Local offices are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the 1-877-664-6984 line is available on Monday through Fridays form 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Number of people ‘unaccounted for’ from NM wildfires drops from 89 to 1 by Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
June 25, 2024

Update: Wednesday 26, 2024, 3:05 p.m. One person is unaccounted for following the South Fork and Salt fires and flooding. This is down from the 89 people reported Tuesday, according to a Village of Ruidoso spokesperson.

Parts of the village of Ruidoso reopened to full-time residents on Monday morning at 8 a.m. By Tuesday afternoon, about half of the 8,000 village residents who were evacuated from the South Fork and Salt fires had returned, according to the Lincoln County officials.

Authorities are leaving open the possibility that more could be found as they complete their search of the evacuated areas.

About 89 people were still unaccounted for, county emergency management specialist Michael Scales said. They aren’t all necessarily considered missing or dead, he said.

On Tuesday night, a Village of Ruidoso spokesperson said 11 people are reported missing.

In a social media post on Tuesday, the Village of Ruidoso published an updated map showing parts of the village that were still closed off, called “exclusion zones,” which Scales explained are burned areas with many different crews working in them.

In those areas, there was massive damage and houses burned to the ground, Scales said. Authorities have cordoned off these places and are treating them as crime scenes until any evidence can be collected, he said.

On Monday, village officials referred in another social media post to “no entry/exclusion zones” as places where residents are not allowed and “are currently considered crime scenes.”

“The fact that we did have some individuals reported missing, and even as a practical standard, any time you have damage of this magnitude, you’re always taking cadaver dogs and forensic evidence technicians through there, to make sure we’re not missing something,” Scales said. “It’s a standard process with any kind of large disaster.”

State Police have confirmed two people have died as a result of the fires. Search and rescue teams have not yet found any more fatalities, Scales said. Those teams “have identified potential fatalities” that could be added to the tally, village officials wrote in a social media post.

“Because the dogs have not completely finished their searches, there’s always a possibility,” Scales said.

Ruidoso Village officials are asking, but not requiring, people who own vacation homes in Ruidoso to wait a few more days to return “to give residents time to get back to their properties and survey any needs or damages.”

NM authorities dispel rumors of looting during the South Fork and Salt fires by Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
June 25, 2024

As thousands of people go back to their homes in the Village of Ruidoso, authorities say they are clearing out neighborhoods where there has been significant damage from fires and floods where the public must wait to return.

And contrary to some 911 callers and rumors, there have been no reports of looting, according to New Mexico court records, public statements and interviews with officials from four different local authorities.

Authorities are leaving open the possibility that more could be found as they complete their search of the evacuated areas.

On June 18, the second day that the South Fork and Salt fires tore through the forest around Ruidoso, a man from Texas walked into an empty home to find shelter, and drank “several” bottles of wine he found inside, according to a criminal complaint filed in the local magistrate court.

A New Mexico State Police patrol officer charged him with trespass, a misdemeanor, and larceny worth less than $250, a petty misdemeanor, and booked him into the local jail, court records show.

“Nothing else has been reported,” New Mexico State Police spokesperson Ray Wilson said on Tuesday morning.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has not identified any reports of looting or burglaries, said Michael Scales, emergency management specialist for the county.

Other than the guy who drank the wine while the village burned around him, a search of all state criminal cases filed in the local district court and the two local magistrate courts showed no cases of looting or burglary filed since the fires began.

A search of all federal criminal cases filed in the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque showed no cases related to the fires.

The Ruidoso Police Department “investigated the claim that there have been break-ins in Midtown and through Ruidoso,” and only found the one case where the Texan drank nearly a caseful of wine, according to a social media post by village officials published on June 21.

Lincoln County responded to calls from people concerned about looting in Alto and “various areas around the evacuated areas,” Lincoln County Undersheriff Geraldine Martinez said at a community meeting on June 20.

“We’ve checked the situation out and we are coming across some people that shouldn’t be out there, but for the most part, some people chose not to evacuate, so they stayed there,” Martinez said. “But we are not finding mass looting or anything like that.”

Ruidoso police, state troopers, and deputies from Lincoln and Otero counties are running checkpoints and doing roving patrols, she said.

Twelfth Judicial District Attorney Scot Key said based on his knowledge, there have been no referrals nor filings of criminal complaints against anyone for looting.

“I haven’t heard of any criminal cases started regarding looting,” Key said in a phone interview on Monday afternoon.

Lincoln County Sheriff Michael Wood did not return a phone call and text message on Monday seeking comment. Scales said he would forward our questions to Wood.

Phone calls, emails and voice messages left for Ruidoso Police Department leadership and a spokesperson for the Village of Ruidoso were not returned as of Tuesday afternoon.

Key, whose local prosecutors handle all felony cases in the area, said in a vacation point like Ruidoso, people who aren’t living there full-time often report burglaries only when they go to use their vacation house. “And then it’s months old, and there conceivably could be problems in doing the investigation and finding the responsible persons,” he said.

“I think right now, in my mind, there’s an absence of complaints,” Key said. “Now, that’s not to say that as people get back to their houses, there’s not going to be a rush of phone calls to the PD or the sheriff’s office saying, ‘Hey, my house is burglarized.’ Obviously that’s a distinct possibility, and we just don’t know it.”

Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Shaun Griswold for questions: info@sourcenm.com. Follow Source New Mexico on Facebook and X.