Flash Flood — San Juan, New Mexico

2020-07-26 · near Bloomfield, San Juan, New Mexico

Event narrative

U.S. Highway 64 was closed due to flood waters between U.S. Highway 550 and Jordan Court. Two homes were partially flooded at the intersection of East Broadway Avenue and Johnson Street. Damage amounts are a rough estimate to water damage to two homes.

Wider weather episode

The richest plume of monsoon moisture of the entire season set up over New Mexico on the weekend of July 25-26, 2020. The center of upper level high pressure drifted west into the state from west Texas while a weak upper level disturbance moved slowly north from eastern Arizona. The combination of several days of heavy rainfall with widespread showers and thunderstorms set the stage for flash flooding across the region. Rainfall amounts over the 48-hour period averaged three to five inches in the area from Socorro County north and east across the Manzano Mountains into the high plains of eastern New Mexico. The remainder of the state also picked up heavy rainfall averaging one to three inches from the Continental Divide eastward across the Rio Grande Valley into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and northeast New Mexico. A quick burst of torrential rainfall around Madrid flooded several arroyos and damaged a couple roadways. Flash flooding occurred along parts of State Road 1 near Luis Lopez and washed one truck into the water. Another flash flood impacted the area around San Antonio resulting into the closure of U.S. Highway 380. Arroyos overflowed their banks between Bloomfield and Aztec, resulting in a few road closures and some minor damage to a couple homes. Minor flooding occurred in many other parts of the state including Aztec, Edgewood, Albuquerque, Gallup, and Dulce. Fortunately, there were no injuries from these heavy thunderstorms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.7100, -107.9600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 898159. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.