Ruidoso Flood

We arrived in Ruidoso on July 26th, it had started raining on us between Santa Fe and there, but was not raining much when we arrived. We all went out to dinner and then went to the family cabin to check in on relatives. While there it began to rain and we left about 10:00 p.m. while it was still drizzling. When we went to bed I knew it was still raining and opened the windows thinking it will be "fun" to fall asleep to the falling rain. I remember waking up a couple of times and thinking "it is raining really hard". We were unaware that we were under a flash flood warning. The next morning Steve and I got up and were going to worship. We noticed several people were standing at the main bridge in town looking over the rails, as we passed by I said to Steve "oh my that is the highest I have ever seen the river", as we went on down the street it became obvious that the river had overrun it's banks. Near the church there was a campground with RV's and there was water rushing through the campground and I said to Steve "wouldn't that be horrible to be stranded in your trailer", still oblivious to what was really going on.
We got to the church and there were about a dozen people there dressed like they had been camping (i.e. in sweats, shorts, etc) My dad had previously told me that the Gateway church of Christ was a disaster relief facility. Still we didn't think much about anything. Then we thought that worship began at 9:30 and we arrived about 9:25 and people were leaving? We went into the sanctuary and sat down where there 4 people talking in the aisle. No one said a word to us. 9:30 came and went and no other people entered and still no one spoke to us, so we got up and left. We overheard one of the men say "We will have a devotional and communion at 10:30." We will give this church the benefit of the doubt that it was busy helping those affected by the flood and not too concerned with two misplaced visitors looking for the worship that was advertised on their phone and building as starting at 9:30.

It wasn't until we began trying to find another place to worship that we began to realize the magnitude of the flood because so many streets were roped off.
The river had washed out most of the major bridges.
Then by mid afternoon you heard numerous helicopters flying low. Some were news helicopters, others were black hawks. As the day transpired we found out that the helicopters were having to rescue people.

There is a place called the Upper Canyon in Ruidoso that there is only one way in and out, so when the bridge washed out, people were stranded. Numerous rental cabins are up the canyon as well as some campgrounds. I was downtown on Tuesday and heard a man telling someone how they were rescued out of the canyon by the use of ladders and stretchers. I found a picture on the internet that showed exactly that.

Can you imagine if this was your child??

Fortunately, we were never in any danger where we were, nor was the family cabin that has been there since 1933. We were all in awe at how the river had subsided on Monday and that on Tuesday we went on a picnic where the land was actually already dry! That RV park that was under water on Sunday? Well, Wednesday when we left it was dry there as well. Truly amazing. All in all 200+ people had damaged homes and one person lost his life. I am surprised not more people fell in because there were so many onlookers standing way too close taking pictures with their cameras, phones, etc. having no clue that the ground could have given way at any moment. The business across from the family cabin lost 30 feet of property as it just collapsed into the river. Good thing no one was standing there when that happened! When the river receded they were able to start putting in temporary access by dumping lots of gravel to cross the river.

I could not help but think about the many times I have been online trying to find Steve and I a cabin to stay at on a river somewhere. I have never once considered what it would be like to be vacationing and the river to flood. As much as we will remember the flood, it won't compare to those who actually got stranded on their vacation or even worse lived there and lost their home.
There are several videos on YouTube, but I chose this one because it is the RV park I referenced in the beginning of this post.