Is National Weather Service New Mexico prepared for a Texas-level emergency? - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
Over the holiday weekend, New Mexico’s neighboring state endured a catastrophic flood that claimed the lives of more than 100 people, with several others still missing.
Many — including Texas officials — are questioning the National Weather Service about whether the organization was truly prepared and if cuts from the Trump administration affected the response to the floods.
But is the New Mexican National Weather Service prepared for a weather emergency like the floods in Texas?
Scott Overpeck, a warning coordination meteorologist with the NWS in Albuquerque, is responsible for ensuring effective communication of weather warnings to the public. His role also involves direct coordination with local officials and agencies.
Overpeck said the Albuquerque office is staffed around the clock, with the ability to call in additional personnel ahead of major weather events.
"We work rotating shifts 24/7, so there's always somebody available," Overpeck said. "We have the capability, in addition to having our normal staffing profiles, we can bring in people and plan for big events so we have people available to handle that."
The Trump administration has cut down NWS staffing by at least 20%, the Associated Press reported, leaving nearly 600 NWS positions vacant.
These cuts have impacted daily weather balloon launches — a key tool for accurate forecasting — curtailing research efforts and reduced the number of available forecasters.
Trump said that NWS cuts did not hinder weather forecasting and said the Texas flood was "a thing that happened in seconds. No one expected it. Nobody saw it.”
Overpeck would not say if the New Mexico NWS branch was affected by staffing cuts or if it was fully staffed.
Ruidoso experienced a flash flood that forced 8,000 people to evacuate from their homes shortly after a fire that devastated the community last summer. Since then, Ruidso has experienced additional floods, particularly in burn scar areas where the ground is less absorbent and more prone to runoff.
Kerry Gladden, the village of Ruidoso's public information officer, said the city was notified by NWS about the potential of floods 24 hours before they happened. The city has an internal communication system with NWS that updates on an hourly basis, with additional updates if the city is in a weather emergency.
"We have a very close working relationship with the NWS out of both El Paso and Albuquerque," Gladden wrote in a statement to the Journal. "We received the alerts yesterday in a very timely manner as we always do."
Gladden said the rain estimates were "100% accurate" and that NWS and Ruidoso knew there was a potential for flooding because of burn scars.
There are three types of flash flood warnings, Overpeck said. For each type of warning, NWS meteorologists analyze weather data and collectively determine the type and frequency of the warnings.
“Once we issue the warning, it gets sent out in a matter of a few seconds,” he said. “There isn't really a whole lot of delay in these warnings.”
The first tier is a basic warning for potential flooding that could damage property. The second, a more serious “upgraded warning,” will trigger emergency alerts on cell phones and notify residents in the affected area to seek higher ground immediately.
“This is the one that will make your phone alert and give you some information on where the flooding is,” he said. “If you get that, it means you are in the area and need to get to higher ground.”
The final warning means the situation has turned urgent, Overpeck said.
“We don't like to do that as much, because it is really that life-threatening situation where there is a flash flood emergency, there are high water rescues, there's water getting into structures, and there are lots of widespread road closures,” he said.
Overpeck said NWS meteorologists can also modify, add or issue new warnings for different areas as weather threats move. The department also decides on what areas need weather warnings.
"Alerts are only as good as the actions taken of getting the message out to the community and its residents after the alerts are received by state and local officials," Gladden said.
Some communities in New Mexico have outdoor sirens to alert residents about emergencies, but Overpeck said the NWS does not have control over those or evacuation orders. Ruidoso is one of the cities that has an outdoor warning system, and Gladden said it will be upgraded before the end of the year.
It is up to city or county officials to make those decisions, but NWS does try to keep in contact with cities affected by weather events, Overpeck said.
Alert for missing Native people launches, but key detail is unclear — Bella Davis, New Mexico in Depth
A new alert system meant to help find Native people who go missing in New Mexico went into effect last Tuesday, but a key detail remains unsettled: How will police determine who’s eligible for an alert?
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Turquoise Alert system into law in April. At least five other states — Arizona, California, Colorado, North Dakota and Washington — have created similar notifications as part of an effort to address a crisis of Native people going missing and being killed at disproportionate rates. According to an FBI list, 199 Native people are missing from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation.
“Too many Native American families have faced crisis and the heartbreak of a loved one disappearing without the swift response they deserve,” Indian Affairs Secretary Josett Monette (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), whose agency crafted the bill, said in a statement after the Legislature passed it.
Turquoise Alerts, according to the statute, can be issued for a missing person who is enrolled or eligible for enrollment in a federally or state-recognized tribe. The intent of the enrollment provision is to “acknowledge and protect tribal sovereignty and political status,” former Indian Affairs Deputy Secretary Seth Damon (Navajo) told New Mexico In Depth earlier this year.
But how enrollment status will be verified is unclear.
The law requires the Department of Public Safety to develop the system. A spokesperson for the New Mexico State Police, which will distribute the alerts, said individual law enforcement agencies will decide how to verify eligibility. New Mexico had around 100 police departments and sheriff’s offices as of 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, meaning there could be a patchwork of different protocols.
“Whether or not they’re going to verify with a family member, whether or not they’re going to verify with the tribe, I have no idea how they would go about doing that,” said Lt. Philip Vargas, a public information officer for the state police. “It could be both of those things, could be one of those things.”
New Mexico In Depth asked three police departments whether they have developed verification protocols.
As of Tuesday, Farmington police were “still in the process of determining what our protocol is going to be so we can most efficiently and accurately determine” whether a person is eligible for an alert, according to a spokesperson.
Spokespeople for Albuquerque and Gallup did not respond.
Police trying to confirm enrollment with tribes could cause delays in getting alerts out, especially for missing Native people who are from tribes outside of New Mexico, said Abigail Echo-Hawk (Pawnee). She’s the director of the Urban Indian Health Institute in Seattle, which published a landmark report on the crisis in 2018.
“So I’m Pawnee and I’m missing in New Mexico. How are they going to verify my tribal enrollment?” Echo-Hawk said.
Asked to respond to that concern about the timeliness of alerts, Monette wrote in an email that her agency is “proud of our administration and lawmakers for taking this critical step.” But she acknowledged “there will be some things to work through as we figure out this new alert system.”
California, North Dakota and Washington’s laws don’t include any language about enrollment. Colorado’s law defines Indigenous as “having descended from people who were living in North America prior to the time people from Europe began settling in North America, being an enrolled member of a federally recognized Indian tribe, or being a lineal descendent of a tribally enrolled parent or guardian.”
Arizona’s law, which is not exclusive to Indigenous people, calls for triggering an alert when a person who is under 65 is reported missing and a local law enforcement agency believes they’re in danger, as well as other conditions.
“In Washington state and in California, it was, is there a self-identification by the community and by their families of being Indigenous? And to my knowledge, we have never had the instance—people don’t claim to be Indian when they’re missing,” Echo-Hawk said.
Rather than try to get in touch with a tribal enrollment office that could be closed when a person goes missing, police should trust information families give them as they give them as they file a report, said bill co-sponsor Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta (Navajo), D-To’hajiilee.
“I don’t think it should be too much of an issue, but if it is, I’d be willing to look at better solutions, to amend the language or create policy that makes it a lot easier for people to do so,” she said.
State police will eventually be able to send certain alerts as cell phone notifications. For now, they’ll target local news outlets and post on the agency’s Facebook page, along with the Department of Public Safety’s website.
Child welfare experts 'frustrated' over stalled reforms in New Mexico — Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
It’s been some six months since an outside arbitrator stepped in to require more accountability from the state Children, Youth and Families Department in its protection of abused and neglected children.
And in that time, CYFD convinced state lawmakers to spend $100 million more over last year’s budget to shore up protective services staff, increase training, implement ways to decrease caseloads and cut office stays for children in custody.
But in that same period, three children in state custody have died, progress has been delayed by bureaucratic snags, and on Thursday, independent arbitrator and lawyer Charles R. Peifer ended a three-hour compliance hearing with a sobering assessment.
“I am not yet seeing any measurable progress from six months ago,” Peifer said, “which means to me, the state must do more.”
Peifer is overseeing the state’s compliance with the Kevin S. settlement agreement created five years ago by CYFD and attorneys representing 14 foster youth who contended their constitutional rights were being violated by conditions created in state custody.
As part of the agreement, two national experts, called co-neutrals, are being paid by the state to collect data, conduct interviews, assess compliance, advise the state and make recommendations for reform.
The experts, Kevin Ryan and Judith Meltzer, appeared via Zoom at Thursday’s hearing, with Meltzer telling Peifer, “For us, this has been a frustrating five years. We would have hoped by this point that the system would be in a better place than it is right now.”
Ryan, with Public Catalyst Group of Iselin, New Jersey, said he and Meltzer, of the New York-based Center for the Study of Social Policy, have made “numerous, numerous recommendations” over the past five years as to what CYFD’s priorities should be. CYFD has supported those in many instances, he said.
“The challenge has been the implementation,” he said.
During repeated interactions with “hundreds and hundreds of (CYFD) workers and in field visits,” Ryan said, “one of the challenges we confronted is workers increasingly saying, ‘Why are we still talking to you and nothing’s changed? Why are caseloads so high? Why are children still being housed in offices?’”
“The credibility of this effort is so seriously undermined by the number of years that have passed without meaningful change in the offices that we really need to integrate a sense of profound urgency into the implementation of stabilizing a well-trained workforce,” Ryan said.
CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados told Peifer that her agency is making strides, such as reducing the average number of children staying in agency offices from about 17 to 18 statewide to 12. The Legislature this year approved funding an extra 25 positions to work in offices, requiring specialized training of the employees to deal with crisis response and suicide risk assessments.
Ryan said none of the states that have substantially improved their systems for children and families have done so without creating a well-trained, stable workforce with reasonable caseloads.
The two experts have worked as federal court monitors and advised states such as Oklahoma, New Jersey, Michigan and Texas.
“Three things were always key (to success),” Ryan said.
“First,” he said, “there was an ‘accountability agent,’” such as a federal judge, who engaged with the parties, holding hearings and receiving expert reports to ensure compliance.
That hasn’t happened in the Kevin S. case because there is no federal judge overseeing the progress.
As part of the out-of-court settlement, the parties first tried negotiations and dispute resolution. Peifer was selected last year after attorneys for the foster children asked for binding arbitration, contending CYFD’s continuing failure to meet its goals was unacceptable.
The second element, Ryan said, “is there was a very committed governor in all these instances ... who was very focused on implementation and made sure that the executive branch was working full throttle; then thirdly, there was leadership at the agency, focused on the commitment and driving that forward with a master plan that was designed to essentially achieve compliance.”
“We do think there needs to be ongoing outside accountability through you, Mr. Peifer,” Meltzer said.
Tara Ford, an attorney and child welfare specialist with Public Counsel of Los Angeles, urged Peifer to continue holding CYFD accountable by instituting remedial orders like he did in January. At the time, he directed CYFD to request adequate funding from the Legislature for caseworker hiring and retention. He also implemented deadlines in areas of staffing for foster family recruitment and reporting of well-child checks for children coming into state custody.
“Plaintiffs understand that three children have died in foster care (so far this year) and so many others have been living in unsafe congregate care settings and not getting the care they deserve,” Ford said. “The result of CYFD’s broken promises is tragic and absolutely intolerable.”
She was referring to the suicide in April of a 16-year-old boy living at a group home licensed by CYFD in Albuquerque; the suicide on May 16 of a 17-year-old girl in state custody; and last month’s death of a 10-month-old child in foster care, which is still under investigation by CYFD.
“This is very hard work,” said Ryan, who urged New Mexico to look at what can be accomplished in the final 18 months of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s term in office. Casados is the third Cabinet secretary to head the agency since Lujan Grisham took office in January 2019. The governor was re-elected in 2022.
Casados told Peifer she wants to concentrate for the next 18 months on workforce training and stabilization. “I think that is really key to all of the other areas that need to be addressed,” she said.
DOH warns residents of West Nile threat from mosquito bites — Daniel Montaño, KUNM News
The monsoons are bringing welcome relief from the heat and much needed rain to parched high desert lands, but along with those rains comes an unwelcome annoyance that can prove to be dangerous as well — mosquitos, which can spread disease.
The New Mexico Department of Health is warning residents to take precautions against mosquito bites, particularly to prevent the spread of the West Nile Virus.
In a news release last week, the DOH said no cases of West Nile have yet been reported in humans this year, but warn that peak West Nile season is July and August and recent rains have likely left standing water across the state, providing suitable habitats for mosquitoes to reproduce.
City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department has detected West Nile virus positive mosquitoes through routine mosquito monitoring, and the department’s director, Paul Rogers, said mosquitos with the disease “will be around until there is a good hard frost in the area, and (the City) urges people to continue to take precautions against mosquito bites throughout the rest of the season.”
The DOH said the hours around dusk and dawn are peak biting times and encourage people to wear loose clothing with long sleeves and full pants, and to use insect repellent on any exposed skin.
Also be sure to eliminate any standing water and keep windows and doors closed if they are not screened.
One-third of NM water systems miss federal lead pipe survey deadline — Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Just over one-third of water systems failed to submit surveys to the State of New Mexico regarding the status of lead pipes in their water systems, despite a federal October 2024 deadline.
In 2023, the federal government tightened the limits on lead in drinking water and passed a new rule mandating that states replace all lead service lines in drinking water systems within a decade. The rule is fully in effect in 2027, at which point states will be required to submit replacement plans to address all lead pipes by 2037.
The rule required cities and smaller water systems to start inventories of their water lines, and to submit them to state regulators by October 2024. The state currently does not have enforcement power, which lies with the federal government. Between April and June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is in charge of the rule, issued warning letters to the water systems.
The letters contained boilerplate notice of the failure to comply with the rule and requested water systems contact the EPA for further assistance.
Further enforcement may come down the line from federal officials, according to Muna Habib, a spokesperson at the New Mexico Environment Department, in the form of administrative orders, which will not include fines, but are more “like formal instructions to take corrective action,” she said in an email.
A 2023 EPA report estimated New Mexico has about 15,400 lead service lines — less than 1% of the state’s pipes — projecting the replacement costs to be about $1.6 billion.
So far, of the 462 water systems that submitted surveys, none reported any lead pipes to the New Mexican Environment Department, officials said.
But there’s a catch, said Martin Torrez, who directs the Public Water Supervision System at NMED: The survey allowed water systems to identify all of their pipes as made from “unknown” materials.
“Now [the systems] have to do their due diligence to investigate and to identify that material by 2027,” Torrez said. “So I would say we’re still in that phase; the majority of the water systems in New Mexico have identified their lines as unknowns.”
About 37% of the lines in New Mexico’s surveys were confirmed not to have lead, according to the surveys.
Lead and copper were common materials in household plumbing, but corrosion of the pipes or joinings could expose people to lead in their water— which is unsafe in any amount, especially for children, pregnant people, and the elderly.
The federal government banned the use of lead for plumbing in 1986, but many older homes and water systems still use lead pipes. In 2023, the EPA identified about 9 million lead service lines used for drinking water in the U.S. with a$625 billion price tag— conservatively — to address the issue.
Officials at the state’s largest water systems, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, said they don’t anticipate finding many lead pipes across the water system.
“Many lines owned by the Water Authority have already been replaced,” said ABCWUA Compliance Manager Danielle Shuryn. “Evidence so far indicates that lead pipes were not prevalent in any parts of the service area.
About half of the system’s 200,000 water lines were installed before 1988, and about 10% have already been inspected by staff, she said, but noted the actual survey will possibly take all 10 years to complete.