Children cling to ceiling fan as Ruidoso, NM flooding destroys RV park, family home

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2 days ago

RUIDOSO, New Mexico — Jason Fulcher picked through the remains of his home along the banks of the Rio Ruidoso, salvaging what he could the day after a flash flood ripped through his home and the RV park he owns.
The Riverview RV Park on busy Suddreth Drive was nearly full the afternoon of Tuesday, July 8, before what Fulcher described as a big wave of water and mud crashed through the campsites.
The fast-moving water swept away six people, RVs, vehicles and the whole front of Fulcher's home.
Fulcher and his wife, Lindsey, watched in horror from a hill overlooking the park as the water rushed by, unable to do anything for their two children who were trapped inside their house. The children, ages 7 and 13, clung to a ceiling fan as they floated on a mattress in the rising waters.
The rush of muddy water eventually broke away from the front of the Fulchers' house.
"We stood on top of this hill watching my house crumble around my children while we were on the phone with 911," said Fulcher as he fought back tears. "They were on the phone with their mom, praying to God. And you're just helpless. You can't do anything."
Other guests, including Rod Downing, a 69-year-old from near Waco, Texas, who had arrived two days prior with his wife and puppy, described a chaotic scene. The two were pinned in their trailer by another RV that had been pushed by the floodwater.
"There were people screaming," he said. "It's something I don't want to ever live through again."
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Downing waited for the water to recede and escaped from the RV through an emergency window.
Fulcher's children and other guests at the campsite, including Downing and his wife, were saved by local search and rescue teams. One guest had climbed up a tree to escape the water.
But not everyone at the RV park was as lucky as the Fulcher and Downing families.
An El Paso family, who had arrived two days prior from El Paso, Texas, were swept away by the quickly moving water.
Charlotte and Sebastian Trotter, 4 and 7 years old, were found dead. A statement released by Fort Bliss confirmed that the family was from the Army post.
The soldier and his spouse were seriously injured and are being treated at a hospital in Texas, authorities said.
Jerry Stark and Tim Feagin — both of whom worked and lived at the campsite — were also carried away in the flood. Feagin was killed in the flood, Fulcher said.
Stark was located and taken to a hospital in Ruidoso.
The rushing waters quickly spilled over the Rio Ruidoso's banks, washing homes away and damaging structures along the river banks. The flood moved quickly down Sudderth Drive before cutting through Fulcher's and his neighbor's land.
"We experienced flooding last year due to the burn scars, but it was nothing like yesterday," Fulcher said. "(The water was) faster than you can run because the people that were running got overtaken by it."
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The flash flood on Tuesday, July 8, was a historic event, with the water cresting at 20 feet high, authorities said during a news briefing on the flood. Previous flash floods were measured at 15 feet.
"We just saw some of the worst flooding I've ever seen," Ruidoso Fire Chief Cade Hall said. "I've lived here my entire life and that was a wall of water that we've never seen before."
The Ruidoso Fire Department quickly moved into action as the waters rose. There were at least 65 people saved by the fire department's swift water operations response, Hall said during the news briefing on Wednesday, July 9.
Ruidoso officials are still assessing the impacts of the flood, but Michael Martinez, Ruidoso's deputy village manager, estimates that at least 89 homes in the Upper Canyon region of the mountain town were damaged.
The village of Ruidoso has submitted a request for the federal government to make a disaster declaration, Mayor Lynn Crawford said.
The clean up at the Riverview RV Park began the morning following the disaster.
Fulcher picked around the remains of his home along the banks of the river, salvaging what he could. He found a few tools and a YouTube plaque that he had had made for his son to celebrate his channel.
Downing also collected items from his RV. His Ford pickup truck was one of the vehicles swept downriver.
Volunteers also arrived from the surrounding area to assist in moving the RVs that were damaged and had become entangled with each other and trees.
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The house will have to be bulldozed, Fulcher said.
He explained that his insurance will likely not cover the cost of rebuilding.
And now he has to figure out what to do with the campsite reservations that had been made for the rest of the summer.
"But at the end of the day, I've got my wife and my kids," Fulcher said, "but I wish we could say the same for everybody that was here."
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Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:[e-mail]; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Ruidoso, New Mexico flooding survivors recount deadly disaster