Hundreds of people rescued in New Mexico after atypical floods

A southeastern New Mexico community began drying out Monday after historic rains over the weekend caused severe flooding, causing at least two deaths and leaving hundreds of people stranded on rooftops.

More than 300 people were rescued by the New Mexico National Guard, and 38 of them were taken to hospitals for treatment for undisclosed injuries. New Mexico State Police said two people died as a result of the flooding, but no details were released about the victims or the circumstances of their deaths.

Even Chaves County Sheriff Mike Herrington posted a video on social media in which he was standing on top of his vehicle surrounded by water. Herrington said he had to climb onto the roof of his vehicle when it and several other cars became stranded in water that reached up to their windows.

Some vehicles remained submerged along some streets in the city of Roswell, while others were destroyed after colliding with bridge supports, or trees and power poles, after being swept away by waters on Saturday and on Sunday.

Atypical rains

Stagnant water and masses of twisted railings and broken timbers were unfamiliar scenes to the community. Roswell, surrounded by typically dusty plains and dairy farms, is not famous for any notable rainfall, but rather for being the site where a spaceship supposedly crashed in 1947.

Roswell typically gets less than a foot (30.5 centimeters) of rain in a typical year, but meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said Monday that the weekend deluge was caused by a low-pressure system parked over Arizona.

“So the moisture kept coming in and coming in through eastern New Mexico,” said meteorologist Jennifer Shoemake. “They had several days of heavy rain and severe weather in that area because that storm system just wasn’t moving.”

At the civic center, a birthday party was ruined Saturday when floodwaters began entering the dance floor. At first, some people tried to continue dancing while Moisés Torres and his group, La Fuerza del Bravo, continued playing.

“It seemed like we were sinking like the Titanic,” he told The Associated Press.

As the water continued to rise, the guests climbed onto the roof. Torres said he was hesitant to leave his band’s equipment behind, but as soon as the water reached the top of the stage, the band joined the party guests. Torres recorded videos of cars floating in the water from the roof.

“The water swept away everything in its path,” he commented.

The group spent several hours on the roof while it rained, according to Torres.

Rescuers arrived at dawn on Sunday, as the water receded. The group came down from the roof and found the civic center full of mud.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Luján Grisham declared a state of emergency in response to the flooding, allowing access to $1 million in funding to bolster relief efforts.

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