Flash Flood — Rio Arriba, New Mexico

2025-08-29 · near El Llano, Rio Arriba, New Mexico

Event narrative

Heavy rainfall from a slow moving thunderstorm resulted in rushing floodwaters across State Highway 76 near Mile Marker 8 in Chimayo.

Wider weather episode

Monsoon Moisture across central and eastern New Mexico along with a backdoor front entering northeast NM resulted in the development of scattered shower and thunderstorm activity across these portions of the state. A slow moving thunderstorm resulted in flash flooding on State Highway 76 near Chimayo. Severe thunderstorms resulted in damaging wind gusts of up to 70 mph across Union and Harding County. Finally, mid to late evening thunderstorms resulted in some flash flooding at Bear Canyon near Ruidoso and in Portales.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.0009, -105.9925)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1279813. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.