After days of rain, Ruidoso is in recovery mode from wildfires and flash flooding on burn scars. Meanwhile cleanup is ongoing and some roads remain closed. And federal officials and the local community foundation have started getting money out to residents.
Mayor Lynn Crawford told KRUI radio on Thursday that there are still many dangerous areas as officials struggle to cleanup mudslides and other debris.
“I'm shocked that we haven't lost a bridge with all the debris, all the stuff that's been on these things,” he said. “They're damaged. Oh boy, yeah, they're damaged. But we're having them checked to make sure they're safe.”
Resident Leroy Smith said he and his wife are staying with friends because they must cross three bridges to get to their house.
“Those are either not passable or compromised at the moment,” he said.
Smith is a Realtor and is also on the board of the Community Foundation of Lincoln County. The foundation has a shelter fund to help people with losses from the South Fork and Salt fires. Smith says so far it has disbursed $1,000 each to 120 families.
“And you know, out of I think 1400 structures burned more than 500 were houses, and then of those, I think 125 or 130 were full time local residents,” he said. “So we're kind of triaging our levels of support because we're getting a lot of money coming in, which is great, but kind of just trying to prioritize who gets what first at this point.”
Smith says that was just the first round of checks and the foundation is working on the second round. There were five such rounds in 2022 after the McBride Fire.
“Once we get past this initial push of kind of organizing, organizing and identifying, then we'll be able to start writing much more significant checks for people,” he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a disaster recovery center in place in the village. Mayor Crawford told KRUI radio that FEMA has distributed over $2 million to people in the community.
Victims of fire and flooding can also find help at DisasterAssistance.gov or call the FEMA assistance line between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. MST at 800-621-3362. Officials are asking residents and visitors to remain aware of their surroundings. Floods have prompted numerous swift water rescues over the past week.
