Flash Flood in McKinley County, New Mexico

Flash flood covering reservation route 49 east of Mariano Lake.

Abundant moisture and instability in place over New Mexico on the final day of July 2017 resulted in more flash flashing. Several days of heavy rainfall set the stage for saturated soils and rapid runoff. Very weak steering flow led to nearly stationary thunderstorms with impressive rainfall rates near three inches per hour. Heavy rainfall on very steep terrain west of Red River produced flash flooding across state highway 138 near mile marker nine. The highway was closed for around four hours. Torrential rainfall near Mariano Lake produced flash flooding on reservation routes 49 and 11. A deluge of rainfall on a ranch near Clines Corners produced 1.5 inches in just 35 minutes. A strong thunderstorm with frequent lightning strikes moved across the Albuquerque metro and destroyed a large tree outside a home in Four Hills. Showers and thunderstorms across eastern New Mexico congealed into a large area of heavy rainfall around Portales. This second round of very heavy rainfall on top of saturated soils resulted in serious flooding within Roosevelt County. Vehicles were stranded on U.S. Highway 70 and state police reported a lake covering miles of the highway. State road 267 was also washed out. The Roswell airport set a new daily rainfall record of 1.03 inches, breaking the previous record of 0.84 inches from 1997.