San Juan River Rose 13-Fold in 36 Hours in New Mexico; 200 to 300 People Rescued

The San Juan River in Farmington, New Mexico, grew 13 times larger in just 36 hours. According to National Weather Service river gauge data in Farmington, the river was about 3.5 feet high in the early hours of Thursday; by Friday it was 14 feet high, flooding neighbourhoods across the city and possibly setting a record for the highest water ever recorded there.

Intense rainstorms linked to a very active El Niño-driven Pacific hurricane season left the adjoining states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona with substantial flooding. Thousands of people were displaced or facing massive cleanups.

Torrential rains fell on the San Juan mountains in Colorado, sending floodwaters down the San Juan River through Farmington toward Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border. Small towns along the river, from Pagosa Springs, Colorado, to Bloomfield, New Mexico, and Bluff, Utah, saw historic flooding.

About 46,000 people live in Farmington, long a centre for coal, oil and natural gas production and an important hub for the northeast side of the Navajo reservation, which sprawls across three states. Residents started getting evacuation notices on their phones as early as Wednesday night.

Connie Gooch, who has lived in Farmington for more than 65 years, said her sister was notified on Thursday that she had to get out. Her sister owns a house near the San Juan River and every year makes sandbags as the river rises; this year it rose so fast she did not have time.

The Navajo Reservoir upstream from Farmington mostly contained water rushing down from the mountains, but downstream of the reservoir flood surges entered the city from two normally dry tributaries, Gobernador Canyon and Cañon Largo.

Devon Neeley, San Juan County's public information officer, said: 'This is a catastrophic flood of historic proportions. This river got wider than we have ever seen it in our lifetimes.'

In South Fork, Colorado, on the banks of the Rio Grande, several neighbourhoods were under two to three feet of water. Tyler Schmidt, captain of the local fire and rescue team, said it was unlike anything most of them had seen. In Colorado, responders' priorities are lifting final evacuation orders as waters recede, assessing damaged bridges and testing well water along the Rio Grande in the San Luis valley.

Drinking water impacts included sewage spills from flooded treatment plants in Sedona, Arizona, and other locations, and extensive damage was reported on the Hopi reservation. The Hopi reservation is surrounded by the Navajo reservation, where there were also reports of rescues, washed-out roads and historic flooding.

Neeley said fire crews, police officers, National Guard troops and out-of-state swift water teams rescued between 200 and 300 county residents. Crews pulled people from vehicles stuck in running washes and by helicopter from rooftops, using high-clearance National Guard vehicles and amphibious vehicles.

By Sunday the rain had eased, river levels were falling and some residents returned to assess damage. Connie Gooch delivered tarps to her sister's house, where the river had risen four feet inside. People were moving furniture out and piling demolition debris in front yards.

Officials want the thousands of evacuated residents to stay out for now. San Juan County Fire Chief David Vega said at a Sunday briefing that, with the swift water component out of the way, a new set of hazards was exposed, including raw sewage, damaged gas lines and live power lines. '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.'

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham visited San Juan County on Monday. She said damage to infrastructure alone could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Responding to estimates from County Manager Mike Stark, she said she hoped spending would be 30 to 40 million dollars, but it could be closer to between 200 and 300 million dollars, with environmental, road and infrastructure issues alone expensive.

On Monday night, Governor Lujan Grisham announced the federal government had 'partially granted' New Mexico's request for an emergency declaration in response to the regional flooding. The day before, she signed executive orders making $8.25 million more in state funding available for flood response.