Flash Flood — Mora, New Mexico

2025-08-26 · near Cleveland, Mora, New Mexico

Event narrative

Repeated rounds of thunderstorms resulted in flash Flooding along NM Highway 518 just north of Cleveland. A trained spotter observed at least 8 places where small creeks along the Rio Mora were exceeding banks and flooding the highway. Flash flooding also resulted in extreme damage to NM Highway 434. The highway was closed for emergency repairs for 2 to 3 days and was reopened a few days later after installing five corrugated metal pipes and restoring the roadway with a temporary dirt surface.

Wider weather episode

Higher moisture moved into eastern and central New Mexico behind a backdoor front resulting in a greater coverage of showers and thunderstorms across the middle Rio Grande Valley, central mountain chain, and northeast New Mexico. Repeated round of thunderstorms resulted in flash flooding on the Ruidoso area burn scars, State Highway 117 in central Cibola County south of Grants and downstream of the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon burn scar on State Highways 58 and 434 just north of Cleveland and Mora, respectively, in Mora County. Highway 434 in Mora County were closed down for a couple of days to allow for extensive repairs.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.9980, -105.3795)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1279759. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.