An early and severe winter storm continues to dump snow across Albuquerque, Santa Fe and much of the north of the state. At some points tens of thousands of people were left without power and schools and some public buildings closed.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared an emergency Thursday in response to the storm. The two executive orders make $1.5 million in state funding available to responding agencies. Half will go to the New Mexico National Guard, which is helping clear roads in Las Vegas, according to the governor’s announcement. Las Vegas had seen 24 inches of snow by late Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Northeast Albuquerque had received about 3.5 inches.
Spokesperson for the Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM, Jeff Buell spoke to reporters in Albuquerque Thursday.
"At the peak of this incident, we had 50,000 customers without power throughout our system, mostly in the Albuquerque metropolitan area in Santa Fe and to the north," he said. More than 100 PNM crew members have worked to restore electricity but Buell said there are hundreds of outages so work is slow, and more snow is expected tonight.
He added that the fact that so much heavy, wet snow fell on trees whose leaves had not yet fallen meant there were many downed branches.
"We had at least 37 fallen trees and then clogged drains. And so that always happens, which, of course, is a freezing issue," said Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller.
The fallen trees have led to problems including fires, said Albuquerque Fire Rescue's spokesman Lt. Jason Fejer.
"We've run or responded to over 100 emergencies that are related to exterior electrics, so downed lines, arcing lines, they mentioned falling trees. So that's a big number for us," he said.
Fejer urged anyone seeing downed power lines, sparks or any kind of electrical fire to call 911. Officials asked people to drive carefully, be aware that traffic lights might not be functioning and only go out on essential journeys.
Teams are working to get unhoused people off the streets. Anyone can call Albuquerque Community Safety at (505) 418-6178 overnight for a ride to a shelter.
The city announced that several senior centers and multigenerational centers will serve as warming centers.
Bear Canyon Senior Center will be open on Thursday until 9pm, and on Saturday from 9am to 3pm. Highland Senior Center will be open on Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Los Volcanes Senior center will be open on Saturday from 9am to 1pm. Palo Duro Senior Center will be open on Saturday from 9am to 1pm. Manzano Mesa Multigenerational Center will be open on Friday from 8am to 9pm and Saturday 9am to 3pm. North Domingo Baca Multigenerational Center will be open on Friday from 8am to 9pm and Saturday from 9am to 3pm.
In Santa Fe, over 10 inches of snow had fallen by the end of Thursday. Mayor Alan Webber said thousands were affected by about 75 power outages Wednesday night. Power was out at the Santa Fe airport Thursday morning and a city news release said as of 4:00 pm Thursday, 1,500 residents remained without power.
Mayor Alan Webber told KUNM that for the last five years during very cold weather the city has activated a protocol called Code Blue whereby first responders try to help people who are outside.
"Our teams go out on the street and look for as many people as they can find who are unsheltered, and give them free rides to shelters," he said.
There were over 180 people in shelters on Wednesday night, and 50 bags with warm clothes and handwarmers were given to people who declined to go to shelters. The Salvation Army will run a warming center Friday at 525 West Alameda Street.
Parts of I-25 were closed south of Santa Fe and north of Las Vegas as of late Thursday afternoon. Parts of I-40 were also closed west of Albuquerque for at least part of the day.
