We've had our camper in Ruidoso for the summer and just happened to go back this past weekend to bring it home and get it ready for tailgating. Thank goodness we did! Otherwise, it would probably look like the ones in the picture here. It rained on us from the time we got there on Friday night until we were woken up and hurried out on Sunday morning. There was a long steady rain on Saturday afternoon and all night. I actually made the comment to Randy on our way home from the casino that I guess we were fortuate to be on the side of a mountain because at least we wouldn't get flooded since the water could just run off. Wrong! Our RV park is just east of the Rio Ruidoso bridge. As we crossed over it on Saturday night I strained to see if there was anymore than the usual babbeling brook due to the rain. Granted, it was dark, but I couldn't see any running water because it was so far under the bridge. That all changed sometime between 1:00am and 7:00am Sunday morning.
We were awakened by an insistent banging on the door. Both Randy and I shot straight up in bed with crazy thoughts of who could be so rude as to assume people were already up and getting around. Before Randy could get to the door to unlock it another rapid banging came. He threw open the door and a man started yelling, "You gotta get packed and get out right now! The Sheriff just came by and said this place is gonna flood. They're already under water next door! Hurry up!"
Okay, for those of you who don't know this about me, one of my deepest darkest fears is that I will die in a drowning accident. I have nightmares, one recurring nightmare in particular, about drowning and the feeling of the water suffocating me. As you can imagine, when I heard that man screaming at us to get out of there, I just about lost it. I froze with panic for a few seconds. Then, with a huge rush of adreneline, I jumped up to shaky feet. There was no shower, no washing our faces, not even time to brush our teeth. Randy headed outside to get us unhooked from sewer, electricity, etc, and I got busy finding places for stuff to ride. I pushed up the shade on the back window and that's when I saw it. The Rio Ruidoso that I had strained to find just a few hours later now looked like a white water rapid about 30 yards from our camper. It was amazing and scary at the same time to see water rush by with such force in a place that we didn't even know a river ran. The trout lake and paddle boat pond that were part of the campsite were flooded and had already reached the wheels of the first row of campers. Luckily we were parked in the second row and didn't have to contend with the standing water yet. It took us about 45 minutes to get our stuff together and get out of there, and in that time the water had gotten about 10 yards closer. We pulled out and went to the Wal-Mart parking lot to finish securing items for the ride back home.
There were others that weren't so fortunate. Lots of people weren't there to get their campers out, and even for some that were, they were having a hard time getting everything pulled up fast enough. We wanted to help, but everyone was talking about how if you were headed east you had to get going because the highway would be closing due to the rising water. Sure enough, at 9:30am, we passed the Highway Patrol that were lined up getting ready to close the road because the water rushing just under the bridge was rising fast. Apparently less than a half hour after we passed, the road was closed.
The picture above is of the campsite next to ours that was flooded when we were woke up. It was taken on our way out of town. I didn't exactly have all of my senses about me or I would have taken some of that river rushing behind us or of our campsite as we passed it on the way out. It just didn't occur to me until we got here, and only then because Randy suggested it. Another friend of mine that was there sent me this link of pictures one of her local neighbors took that day. Some are of the racetrack and the flooding that happened there. In all, 12 bridges were lost, some houses were swept away, and two people were swept away when they lost their footing on the bank of the river. Whoa...not the way to go. Click here for a slideshow.
