As many as 200 homes damaged as officials survey the aftermath of a deadly New Mexico flood

SANTA FE N M AP At least homes were damaged during a deadly flash flood in the mountain village of Ruidoso and local crisis managers warned Wednesday that number could more than double as teams survey more neighborhoods Gov Michelle Lujan Grisham was among the administrators who took an aerial tour of Ruidoso and the surrounding area as they looked to bolster their incident for more federal assistance for the society which has been battered over the past year by wildfires and repeated flooding The governor declared the state has received partial approval for a federal emergency declaration freeing up personnel to help with search and rescue efforts and happening management She called it the first step saying Ruidoso will need much more We will continue working with the federal cabinet for every dollar and asset necessary to help this resilient society fully recover from these devastating floods she declared An intense bout of monsoon rains set the mishap in motion Tuesday afternoon Water rushed from the surrounding mountainside overwhelming the Rio Ruidoso and taking with it a man and two children who had been camping at a riverside RV park Their bodies were detected downstream One person is still unaccounted for Lujan Grisham expressed her condolences and wished a speedy recovery for the parents of the -year-old girl and -year-old boy who were killed She explained it will be an emotional journey There are no words that can take away that devastation she announced We are truly heartsick Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury whose district includes Ruidoso and surrounding Lincoln County informed reporters more rain is coming and that residents remain at threat She urged people to follow urgency orders saying we cannot lose another life A society rebuilds again Broken tree limbs twisted metal crumpled cars and muddy debris remain as crews work to clear roads and culverts wrecked by the flooding Tracy Haragan a lifelong Ruidoso resident on the verge of retirement watched from his home as a surging river carried away the contents of nine nearby residences You watched everything they owned everything they had everything went down he disclosed A popular summer retreat Ruidoso is no stranger to tragedy It has spent a year rebuilding following destructive wildfires last summer and the flooding that followed This time the floodwaters went even higher with the Rio Ruidoso rising more than feet meters on Tuesday to set a record Agents declared the area received about inches centimeters of rain over the South Fork burn scar in just an hour and a half It is such a great town it just takes a tail-whipping every once in a while Haragan commented We invariably survive Sucked into the floodwaters Stephanie and Sebastian Trotter were camping along a stream with their son Sebastian and daughter Charlotte when the campsite began to flood rapidly the children s uncle Hank Wyatt stated on a verified GoFundMe page for the family Their RV was nearly halfway full of water when the wall cracked and Stephanie and the children were sucked into the floodwaters he commented The father dove into the water and tried to help his son climb up a tree while the mother and daughter floated downstream clinging to each other until debris hit and separated them Both children and two of the family s dogs Zeus and Ellie died The parents survived but were seriously injured The children were two of the brightest preponderance joyful souls you could ever meet Wyatt announced This is the worst day of our family s lives Other people barely escaped Arnold Duke the owner of Ruidoso Trading Post spent all day Wednesday digging for Native American jewelry in the mud after floodwaters rushed through a warehouse Three workers fled leaving cellphones and purses behind If they had stayed another minute I don t know if they would have made it out Duke noted Requests for aid The Rio Ruidoso runs thick with sediment that can settle and raise water levels Stansbury disclosed the public would need help for the next decade after suffering successive catastrophes Lujan Grisham revealed the federal cabinet likely will advance million to jumpstart recovery efforts That amount could climb to more than million in the coming months as Ruidoso tries to rebuild and mitigate future floods After the flooding Ruidoso deployed money from the state and U S Department of Agriculture to blunt the impact of flooding by removing river sediment seeding new plants installing grates to catch bridge-smashing debris and creating flood impediments out of baskets filled with rocks and earth to channel water away from structures Ruidoso Deputy Manager Michael Martinez disclosed those improvements likely saved homes bridges and lives But funding was exhausted by early June when the village requested another million in federal advocacy Approval was still pending when Tuesday s flood hit We would have desilted more portions of the river Would that have made a difference Martinez reported I think from a mitigation standpoint it might have helped a little bit but the rains that we got were a -year-flood-level rain It wasn t just regular flash flooding Additionally Ruidoso and surrounding Lincoln County are advancing a proposal for federal patronage to convert flood-prone private land to populace property at an initial cost of over million The governor commented representatives need to rethink how to spend funds to reduce the flood threat and restore watersheds and forests The mayor underscored that the flooding had damaged water lines and distribution points for potable drinking water Bryan from Albuquerque Associated Press writers Matthew Brown in Denver Christopher L Keller in Albuquerque and Roberto E Rosales in Ruidoso contributed Source