Debris Flow in Lincoln County, New Mexico

Heavy rainfall on the South Fork burn scar resulted in flash flooding and debris flow across roadways on and downstream of the burn scar. Debris flow was observed in multiple sections across Alpine Village Road, Cedar Creek Drive, Gavilan Canyon Road, Ash and Brady Canyon Road, White Mountain Drive at Mechem Drive and Geroge McCarthy Drive. This resulted in the closures of these roadways for a few hours in the mid to late afternoon. Finally, water in the Rio Ruidoso was observed overtopping the bridge at Gavilan Canyon Road just north of Sudderth Drive.

A traditional monsoon flow on the western flank of an upper level high over the central U.S. combined with daytime heating resulted in the development of shower and thunderstorm activity across the higher terrain during the early through late afternoon hours. Some of this shower and thunderstorm activity moved over the South Fork burn scar on both August 17th and August 18th resulting in flash flooding and debris flow across roadways on and downstream of the burn scar. Overall impacts were reported to be more severe and widespread on August 17th compared to August 18th. Finally, a brief landspout was observed in Las Vegas during the mid afternoon on August 18th as well as near the Bernalillo and Sandoval County line during the mid afternoon on August 19th.