Lujan Grisham says New Mexico flood costs could be closer to $200 million to $300 million

Grisham announced the federal government partially granted New Mexico’s emergency-declaration request

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said flood-related environmental, road and infrastructure costs in New Mexico could be closer to $200 million to $300 million. In a Monday-night announcement, she said the federal government had partially granted the state’s request for an emergency declaration in response to regional flooding.

Intense rainstorms linked to a very active El Niño-driven Pacific hurricane season left thousands of people in the Four Corners states displaced or facing massive cleanups from flooding. The storms were moving southeast. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona all saw substantial flooding last week, and damage assessments were only beginning to come in from cities, towns and some of the most remote territory in the continental U.S., leaving the extent of the destruction unclear.

Farmington was hit particularly hard after torrential rain fell on the San Juan Mountains in Colorado and sent floodwaters down the San Juan River through the city toward Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border. Communities along the river, including Pagosa Springs, Colorado; Bloomfield, New Mexico; and Bluff, Utah, reported historic flooding and were assessing recovery challenges. About 46,000 people live in Farmington, a long-standing center for coal, oil and natural gas production and an important hub for the northeastern side of the Navajo Reservation, which sprawls across three states.

Farmington residents began receiving evacuation notices on their phones as early as Wednesday night. Connie Gooch, who had lived in Farmington for more than 65 years, said her sister, who owns a house in a suburban neighborhood near the San Juan River, was notified Thursday. “Every year she goes through this,” Gooch said. “The river starts rising, and she starts making sandbags to put around. But this year it was so fast she didn’t have time to do that.”

According to National Weather Service data from a river gauge in Farmington, the San Juan River grew 13 times larger in 36 hours late last week. It was about 3.5 feet high in the wee hours Thursday and 14 feet high by Friday, flooding neighborhoods across the city and possibly setting a record for the highest water ever recorded there. The Navajo Reservoir upstream from Farmington mostly contained water rushing down from the mountains, but downstream, flood surges came from two normally dry tributaries, Gobernador Canyon and Cañon Largo.

“This is a catastrophic flood of historic proportions,” said Devon Neeley, San Juan County’s public information officer. “This river got wider than we have ever seen it in our lifetimes.” Similar flooding struck communities on the other side of the San Juan Mountains. Tyler Schmidt, captain of the fire and rescue team in the small town of South Fork, Colorado, on the banks of the Rio Grande, said, “It’s nothing like most of us have seen before.” He added, “We had several neighborhoods that were under two to three feet of water.”

Colorado Public Radio’s Dan Boyce reported that responders’ immediate priorities were lifting final evacuation orders as waters receded, assessing damaged bridges and testing well water along the Rio Grande’s path in the San Luis Valley. Other drinking-water impacts included sewage spills from flooded treatment plants in Sedona, Arizona, and other locations. KNAU reported extensive damage on the Hopi Reservation, which is surrounded by the Navajo Reservation. Reports on the Navajo Reservation included rescues, washed-out roads and flooding of historic proportions.

San Juan County public information officer Devon Neeley said fire crews, police officers, National Guard troops and even out-of-state swift water teams rescued between 200 and 300 county residents. “We have pulled people out of vehicles stuck in running washes. We have pulled people by helicopter off of rooftops,” Neeley said. “We have used not only high-clearance vehicles from the National Guard, but amphibious vehicles because the water is so high. It’s been a lot.”

By Sunday, the rain had eased, river levels were falling and some residents had started returning home to assess flood damage. Gooch delivered tarps and other materials to her sister’s house. “The river was up four feet in her house,” she said. She found a neighborhood full of people moving furniture out of their homes and piling demolition debris in their front yards. “There were trucks and cars all over the place,” Gooch said. “There was a guy in front of me carrying a loaded trailer full of sheet rock that they’d chipped out of somebody’s house.”

Despite the receding water, officials wanted the thousands of evacuated residents to stay out for now. At a public briefing Sunday, San Juan County Fire Chief David Vega said, “The public is anxious to get back in; we recognize that, we’re sympathetic to that.” He added, “Now that the swift water component is out of the way, that exposes a whole new set of hazards for us.” Public officials were concerned about hazards including raw sewage, damaged gas lines, live power lines and the floodwater itself. “The water is not healthy,” Vega said. “Stay out of the water. Gas, diesel, pesticides, fertilizer, these are not things that you want on your clothes.”

Lujan Grisham visited San Juan County on Monday and said damage to infrastructure alone could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Responding to recovery-cost estimates from San Juan County manager Mike Stark, she said, “I hope we’re only spending 30 to 40 million (dollars).” She added, “We think this could be closer to between 200 and 300 million (dollars).” Lujan Grisham said environmental, road and infrastructure issues alone were expensive.

On Monday night, Lujan Grisham announced that the federal government had “partially granted” New Mexico’s request for an emergency declaration. The previous day, she had signed executive orders making $8.25 million more in state funding available for the flood response.