By the time Kellie Campbell’s mother-in-law and father-in-law evacuated late Thursday night, 3 feet of water had pushed into their home near the San Juan River.
The elderly couple had been roused by a homeless man who lives under a bridge in Bloomfield, a town near the crossroads of U.S. 550 and U.S. 64 in San Juan County. The man stopped by each of his neighbors’ houses at around midnight, knocking on their doors and warning of the impending flooding.
“We don’t know who that homeless man is yet,” Campbell said. “We are trying to figure that out because he saved a whole bunch of lives last night.”
Campbell’s grandson and his wife, who reside nearby, were rescued by the fire department earlier Thursday evening. They couldn’t take their cars; by Friday, the vehicles were nowhere to be seen.
Rescues were still underway Friday in Farmington while residents in other parts of San Juan County were asked to evacuate as historic catastrophic river flooding rocked Northern New Mexico. Meteorologists stressed the impacted areas were not in the clear as several sections of river weren’t expected to crest until Saturday.
“I just want to say, we are in a terrible crisis,” San Juan County Commission Chair Sam Gonzales said during a Friday news conference. “San Juan County is in grave danger right now.”
As many as 1,500 homes and buildings were estimated to have been impacted by the flooding, according to a National Weather Service database. More than 60 water rescues — primarily between Bloomfield and Farmington — were estimated to have occurred by 10 a.m. Friday.
Posts on social media detailed accounts of people waiting for hours to be rescued from the roofs of their homes. One trapped woman took to Facebook to beg for help as her phone lost battery; she later posted again that she was safe.
Photo courtesy Kellie Campbell
No deaths had been reported as of noon Friday, law enforcement officers said.
Campbell said her in-laws lived in their riverside home for 50 years.
“They have a lot of memories and a lot of things there that they’re going to lose, and we just don’t know what the consequence of that loss is,” she said. “But it’s material items. It’s not loss of life. And I think we’re all just very thankful that everybody is safe and dry right now.”
New Mexico National Guard Community Emergency Response Team personnel evacuated an infant experiencing repeated seizures near Chaco Canyon overnight Thursday after severe weather washed out roads and prevented aircraft from reaching the infant’s residence, according to a news release.
Additional National Guard members remain available to assist in any way needed, Governor’s Office spokesperson Leah March wrote in an email.
“The state urges all residents in the area to heed all direction from law enforcement, especially as it concerns evacuations,” March wrote.
Evacuations and closures
The San Juan County Office of Emergency Management issued and expanded evacuation orders Friday. Residents were urged to evacuate in the Rancho de Animas and Railroad neighborhoods; Pryor Lane; McColm Drive; South DeKalb Street; Meadow View Drive; Melba Lane; Oscar Lane; Oscar Drive; Shannon Lane; Curtis Place; Riverside Drive; La Puenta; Silver River Adobe Inn; and River Ranch Road.
Earlier in the morning, the office ordered people to evacuate Wildhorse Valley; Lee Acres; the Bloomfield, South Church and Calle Del Rio areas; County Road 2620; other areas along the Animas River; and other areas along the San Juan River. The office instructed evacuees to head to McGee Park, the primary shelter with a capacity of 500, where pets and RVs were welcome.
Shelters in Shiprock include Power House Church and First Baptist Church.
Additional temporary pet and livestock shelters opened Friday afternoon at Farmington Animal Shelter, which had space for up to 50 cats, and at 109 E. Piñon St., which was poised to accept 30 dogs and was preparing to accept livestock and large animals.
“There are more areas, and rivers are still rising,” the San Juan County Office of Emergency Management wrote in a Facebook post. “If you see rising floodwaters, DON’T WAIT, GET OUT.”
A flood warning is in effect through Saturday afternoon for northwestern Valencia County, northeastern Cibola County, the Rio Ojo Caliente below La Madera, the Animas River near Cedar Hill and La Plata River below Redmesa, Colo.; through late Saturday night for the Rio Chama below Chamita; and through Sunday afternoon for the Animas River near Farmington and the San Juan River at Farmington and Shiprock.
The San Juan River at Shiprock is forecast to crest at 22.2 feet — considered major flooding — before 11 a.m. Saturday. In Farmington on Friday, the river was already 2 feet above the previous record, which was set in 1909.
“The river really hasn’t flooded like this since they built Navajo Dam to try to keep it under control,” senior service hydrologist Andrew Mangham said at a Friday briefing held by the weather service’s Albuquerque office. “We are getting reports of widespread devastation throughout the town, and I’ve seen some of the photos — it is truly remarkable what’s happening.”
Floodwaters on Friday impacted the Bloomfield Water Reclamation Facility, according to the San Juan County Office of Emergency Management, and they were considered contaminated with sewage.
The city of Bloomfield successfully shut down the plant before floodwaters reached it, though personnel restarted it later Friday, and raw sewage flowed into the San Juan River, the city said in a news release. Bloomfield Mayor John Mohler urged residents to limit water use.
Road closures and driving conditions can be found at nmroads.com.
All schools in the area were closed Friday. The flooding also had an impact on weekend high-school athletic events in the region.
None of the Four Corner high schools — Farmington, Piedra Vista, Shiprock, Kirtland Central, Aztec and Bloomfield — played scheduled football games Friday night. Those games were rescheduled for Monday.
That decision had a trickle-down effect for other schools, especially those in Northern New Mexico. Pojoaque Valley, which was Kirtland Central’s opponent, will travel to the school Monday, and rescheduled its home game against St. Michael’s from Oct. 30 to Oct. 31. Las Vegas Robertson also will play Monday as it hosts Aztec, and its Oct. 30 matchup with crosstown rival West Las Vegas is also moved to Halloween.
Santa Fe Indian School, the third school impacted by the rescheduling, will play Shiprock on the same day. Its game against Cuba also moved from Oct. 30 to Oct. 31.
The NMAA announced Friday afternoon its unveiling of the state boys and girls soccer tournament brackets scheduled for Sunday will instead happen Monday to accommodate teams who could not play Friday or Saturday because of weather or flooding. It also stated the first round of the tournament will move back a day to Wednesday for boys teams and Thursday for girls teams.
The flooding was part of a broader surge of severe weather in the Four Corners region. Showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue for much of New Mexico, especially central and eastern areas, through the weekend.
There is a slight risk of severe storms for parts of Southern New Mexico — including Socorro, Ruidoso and Roswell — on Saturday.
“This is an ongoing situation,” Mangham said. “Let’s see what the upcoming weather does in terms of extending the flooding in the area.”
Staff writer James Barron contributed to this report.
Lily Alexander is a state accountability reporter for The New Mexican and Searchlight New Mexico, focusing on equity and transparency. Her position is part of the New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund, and her stories are available to all readers without a paywall.
