Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Terrible Devastation in Ruidoso, New Mexico...

Over the past weekend, my favorite place to go skiing in the Winter, Ruidoso, New Mexico, experienced horrible devastation from flooding. Apparently, the rains came as the tail end of Hurricane Dolly. From what I understand, they received 12 inches of rain in one hour, causing a massive amount of flooding in the sleepy mountain town. Local bridges were washed away, stranding some residents. Campers had to be rescued by The National Guard. The normally almost non-exsistent Rio Ruidoso (which has actually always been a local joke) has become a raging, flowing river. More than 300 people had to be evacuated from their homes and the damage is heart wrenching. More than 60 homes have been completely destroyed and 4 bridges were totally taken out by the rushing rivers of flood water. There was even one house that actually took a ride down the Rio Ruidoso, where it then broke into jillions of pieces.





Upper Canyon, where Mr. Snooty's Aunt has a beautiful home, received the greatest amount of damage and the residents are still stranded until a makeshift bridge can be constructed. A friend talked to Aunt J and she said she's fine and that everyone is sharing everything they have on hand, so it seems they have all pulled together during this disaster. Full time residents of Ruidoso number right at 9,500 people, with the county of Lincoln numbering around 19,000.


For the first time ever, Ruidoso Downs Racetrack (Home of the Great American Futurity) was almost completely washed away during this flood caused by Hurricane Dolly. I can't imagine what the cost of that damage will turn out to be. Horse racing is their Summer Bread & Butter and Skiing is their Winter Bread & Butter. However, horse racing is their biggest industry and 2/3 of the track was washed away by the flooding.



Ruidoso has had more than their fair share of problems over the years. Some years it doesn't snow enough to even open the ski area (which is when I go to Taos) and other years they have so much snow that they can hardly keep up with it. The last 4 or 5 Summers, they've had raging forest fires that ended up causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, and many vacation homes, as well as local's homes, were lost. Ruidoso is truly going to be struggling to get back on their feet this time. The devastation I've seen in pictures and on camera footage in the news is totally mind-blowing. I've been going there for 33 years and I've never seen anything like it.


If you're interested, you can go to this site and see numerous videos of the destruction caused by the flooding. The saddest part is that they have more rain in their forecast. Let's pray that it doesn't happen. I've always just loved going to Ruidoso, as have both my children. My children both learned to ski there and my daughter was one of the top ten Nastar skiers in the country, when she competed there. We have so many wonderful memories of going there, so this really does break my heart to see. I have many friends who live there and I've put in calls to them, but haven't yet heard back from them yet. I'm certain they are all okay, but I really just wanted to be certain.

13 comments:

Flea said...

Oh Snooty! I'm so sorry! Natural disasters are heartbreaking. There's not really anyone for angry people to blame. But the way people come together is amazing. Thank you for the update and the back story.

Snooty Primadona said...

I love Ruidoso sooo much. This is just painful to see.

scargosun said...

I can't imagine what this must be like not only for the people that live there but for the people that love it like you do. I don't know what I would do if a hurricaine hit the Cape and caused this kind of devistation.

Pleasing Procrasinator said...

Isn't it amazing how communities pull together when such devastation happens. If only it could be like that all the time.
Glad to hear your Aunt is okay. I'll say a prayer for your Aunt and friends.

Insane Mama said...

I went to ruidoso a few years ago and LOVED it I can't believe this...

Meg said...

That's where we still go skiing Snooty...maybe one day I will catch up to you THERE.

It's terrible about the rain and floods I know...makes me wish I was on better terms with my ex and my ex in laws...wonder if they are ok...

Thanks for posting this...I may break down and call them...I spent all day getting in touch with my family in LA making sure they were ok after the damn earthquake!

Anonymous said...

Wow, they have their act together. I can't imagine a flood like this. Just terrible and a great post by the way.

Mamahut said...

What crazy weather lately. We can't get a drop of rain here and other places are flooding. Kinda scary. I am sorry to here about your fav. place.

imbeingheldhostage said...

OMGosh!!! THAT'S where we came from, Snooty! Actually, we lived in Alamogordo, but our church extended into Ruidoso, so we spent a lot of time and have great friends there. This is terrible. Thank you for posting this-- I HATE not knowing what's going on at home.

Anonymous said...

Wow, how horribly tragic.

Anonymous said...

How awful. Thank goodness they are a tightknit community that can help each other.

So sad.

Daryl said...

How sad ..

:-Daryl

abb said...

Nature can be so cruel. I'm so sorry!

 

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