Flash Flood — San Miguel, New Mexico

2022-07-21 · near Pendaries, San Miguel, New Mexico

Event narrative

Training thunderstorms across the southern portion of the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon burn scar in San Miguel County produced an estimated 2 to 4 inches of rainfall within the Tecolote Creek and Gallinas Creek areas which caused significant and catastropic flash flooding. Flash flooding and debris flow washed out many roadways within the area, rendering them impassable. The camp director at the Camp Blue Haven said that their playground was underwater for about 40 minutes until water receded. At 2:40 PM MDT, the chief of the Cabo Lucero Volunteer Fire Department received a call about a vehicle floating within the flood waters. When officials responded to the floating vehicle, they also discovered two people dead nearby. While initially thought to have been in their vehicle, officials later determined that the two women, 62-year-old Linda June Cummings and 84-year-old Betty Greenhaw, were swept away from a destroyed home within the Tecolote Canyon subdivision. A third individual from the same home was reported missing, and the National Guard, New Mexico State Police, and San Miguel County Sheriff's Office assised in search and rescue for several days. Finally on Tuesday, July 26th, they found the body of 62-year-old Jimmy Chris Cummings. All three were from Hale Center, Texas, but had a 100-year-lease on a cabin in Tecolote Canyon on the Camp Blue Haven property which they were visiting at the time. Eight feet of water rushing down into the canyon took down two walls of the cabin and partially destroyed the other two walls. Damages for this event are estimated.

Wider weather episode

While thunderstorm coverage was not as widespread compared to the previous day, July 21, 2022, was still a very active monsoon day for northern New Mexico in part due to the training of thunderstorms along the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon burn scar. Thunderstorms developed early in the day with steering flow tracking them slowly towards the southeast. Thunderstorms continuously developed along the Sangre de Cristo Mountains through the daytime hours, and thus, kept impacting the same areas. The Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon burn scar was hit particularly hard with rainfall estimated of at least two to four inches with locally higher amounts likely. Highway 518 near Holman and Cleveland, which had been hit hard the previous day, were hit hard again with significant flooding and debris flow observed. The southern portion of the burn scar also received significant rainfall totals, and unfortunately, this flooding took the lives of three individuals at Camp Blue Haven.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.8423, -105.3774)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1030607. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.