Heavy Rain — Bernalillo, New Mexico

2017-08-11 · near Albuquerque, Bernalillo, New Mexico

Event narrative

An unidentified man was swept away in the Embudo Channel near Carlisle and Interstate 40. His body was later discovered at the terminus of the North Diversion Channel near Alameda.

Wider weather episode

The center of upper level high pressure shifted east into Texas on the 11th and allowed a deep tap of moisture to spread north into New Mexico. Atmospheric moisture values over the region surged to the highest levels of the season. Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed over the central and western high terrain during the morning hours then moved east toward the Rio Grande Valley and high plains. Several outflow boundaries converged over the Albuquerque metro area by mid to late day and led to the development of strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. Many folks in Albuquerque picked up their greatest 24-hour totals of the season. Unfortunately, one man died after being swept away by flood waters in the Embudo Channel at Carlisle and Interstate 40. His body was found later near the Rio Grande at the terminus of the North Diversion Channel. A storm that moved northward across the Interstate 40 corridor near Edgewood downed about a dozen power poles. This led to an extended power outage for an estimated 6,300 customers. Many areas of eastern New Mexico picked up another one to two inches of rainfall, adding to the impressive summer totals. This was just the first of several very active weather days across the area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.1064, -106.6038)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 707907. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.