Body found after Ruidoso flooding

The Associated Press |

7/28/2008 -

RUIDOSO — The body of a 20-year-old apparently swept away by flooding caused by the aftermath of Hurricane Dolly was found Monday in a thicket of debris near a washed-out bridge.

The victim, identified as Joseph Godines, had been reported missing in this mountainous resort area by his brother, said Police Chief Wolfgang Born. He was one of two people reported swept away after apparently losing his footing near the Rio Ruidoso as it spilled over its banks Sunday.

Darlene Hart, a spokeswoman for the state of New Mexico, said Monday that there were four or five unconfirmed reports of missing people, but authorities have no definitive information on any of them.

Firefighters and rescue personnel in Ruidoso's upper canyon area spent much of the day helping stranded people across the flood-swollen river Monday one by one. Children were put in a rescue basket and slid across a ladder with a pulley system, while adults walked on the hands and knees across the ladder.

A few dozen people waited, either watching or awaiting their turn. Some of those rescued were barefoot. Authorities said 180 people were rescued Monday from the upper canyon and surrounding campgrounds.

Roads were cleared late Monday into the Bonito Lake area, where about 120 people had been stranded. Officials planned to reassess areas this morning to look for others who are stranded.

Gov. Bill Richardson declared Lincoln County a disaster area, freeing emergency state funding to help ensure the safety of residents and their properties, as well as to restore and maintain critical public services.

The governor also took a helicopter tour and afterward described the scene as "devastating."

"I saw the river raging," Richardson said. "I saw a river raging and continuing to want to do damage."

There was no rain Monday, just patchy gray clouds, and the river eased. Authorities allowed traffic back into areas that had been closed.

Born said an elderly couple was rescued Sunday from a home that high water has now surrounded. At least two houses went down in the swift-flowing river as it spilled out of its banks, including a two-story home of the edge of the Rio Ruidoso in the center of town, the chief said.

An unknown number of cars also have been swept away, he said. A sport-utility vehicle sat in a mobile home park, swept several feet away from where it had been parked.

An estimated 350 to 500 houses, campers, mobile homes and structures were damaged in the flooding, authorities said.

Some 350 people evacuated from homes and up to 500 vacationers stranded away from their cabins, campsites or recreational vehicles by floodwaters were unable to return Monday.

Up to 9 inches of rain has fallen in the mountainous resort area since Friday, the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said. Flash-flood watches were in effect across much of Eastern New Mexico.