Flooding in Ruidoso, N.M., over the weekend showed how wildfire damage, worsening under climate change, can put people at even greater risk than the fires themselves.
After two weeks of wildfires, a deluge in New Mexico caused severe flash flooding and debris flows near Ruidoso over the weekend.
Dark floodwaters, blackened with soot and ash from the South Fork and Salt fires, rushed down mountain canyons and into town, turning Highway 70 into a river and pushing over a fuel tanker, according to videos posted to social media. Homes and business suffered damage, and emergency services reported 77 water rescues.
“It’s going to be a long road to recovery,” said Kerry Gladden, a public information officer for the Village of Ruidoso. Monsoon season typically starts around July 4, and this year, it coincided with two weeks of wildfires, vastly increasing flood risks. “This is going to continue to happen each time we get a heavy rainfall,” Ms. Gladden said.
While the South Fork and Salt fires killed two people and burned more than 25,000 acres last month, the burn scars left behind could put residents at even greater risk than the wildfires themselves.
Climate change, driven primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, continues to cause increases in both high-severity fires that kill vegetation and dry out soils, and extreme rainfall events that deliver more precipitation in shorter amounts of time. The combination of dry soil and heavy rain increases the odds for hazards like flash flooding and debris flows — a dangerous mix of water, mud, boulders and trees after a fire.