Flash Flood — Cibola, New Mexico

2015-07-04 · near El Morro, Cibola, New Mexico

Event narrative

Heavy rains caused a barn and two pastures to be flooded. One lane of a two-lane gravel road was also washed out with many other roads seeing 3 feet deep ravines created by the heavy rain. Numerous roads around the Zuni Mountains were washed out and residents were trapped in their homes for several days until county officials could repair the roads. Phone services were also lost.

Wider weather episode

Abundant moisture allowed for thunderstorms to develop during the afternoon and evening on the 4th across western and central New Mexico. The combination of heavy rains from slow moving storms and antecedent moisture caused flash flooding to occur in parts of western New Mexico. Heavy rains near Gallup caused State Road 481 to close north of Gallup with flooding and debris on the roadway. It was also reported that 4 inches of mud plus 8 inches of water got into the juvenile center. Multiple bridges on the east side of Gallup were closed as arroyos were running higher than they have in 5 to 10 years, according to the emergency manager. Another area of heavy rain flooded a barn along with 2 pastures east of El Morro. Each flooding case subsided by the 5th. A 65 mph wind gust also occurred as a result of a wet microburst in south central New Mexico. Torrential rainfall likely resulted in localized flash flooding in other locations.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.0216, -108.2655)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 575773. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.