Stuff you need to know, 10.13.22

“Gila National Forest roads washed out by monsoon rains, visitors stranded” 
by Tamara Lopez, KOB Channel 4
October 11, 2022

“Monsoon season 2022, we received anywhere from 150 to almost 400% of our normal monsoonal moisture from June to September of 2022,” said Maribeth Pecotte, public affairs specialist at the Gila National Forest. She says there are about 200 miles of damaged roads to inspect and repair.

Click on the above link to read this free-access article.

A more localized account of the impact of the flooding comes from an October 14 email from Monument Creek area resident Dan Warren, who also took the accompanying photographs.

Living adjacent to the Gila National Forest in the Black Range, we have had our share of flooding issues over the last 15 years.  But with the recent heavy rains and increased flood water levels due to the Black Fire, just getting to Winston from our home has been a real challenge almost every week this summer.  Earlier this week, there was so much damage to the County roads, that we were close to being stranded after the flooding. 

A Sierra County truck got swept away in Cuchillo Creek on Highway 52 at Winston on October 8. 

Also, a truck from Arizona got swamped trying to navigate up Chloride Creek on the St. Cloud mine road just south of Winston – it is still sitting there after almost a week. 

Watersheds for both of these creeks were burned by the Black Fire and have seen very high flood water levels.

What makes some of these roads especially dangerous is that some sections of the road are in the bottoms of these major creeks.  The Arizona truck is at a location where vehicles must drive with the flood water for several hundred feet.  One of the U. S. Forest Service’s solutions to dealing with flooded roadways (posted about a month ago on the Gila National Forest website) is to just measure the water and if it is over 6 inches deep, the driver should turn around.  Such advice just does not work for our area where you must drive long distances up and down flooded creeks, in addition to making numerous crossings.  For one thing, there is no practical way to measure the depth of the muddy water. 

The USFS’s advice to turn around ignores that the people trying to get home often must spend the night in a cold car or truck – only to find out they may not get home for several days.  The NM 52 crossing at Winston has been especially bad this summer.   People have had to “camp out” in their vehicles at the NM 52 crossing for many decades due to the lack of a bridge.  Now it is much worse.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation’s solution?  They have had it in place for years – several signs at the Cuchillo Creek crossing warning of flood water.  There is only one bridge on the entire length of NM 52 from Interstate 25 to NM Highway 60 near Magdalena.  My understanding is that citizens had to clamor in order to get that bridge just outside of Cuchillo.

Although NM 52 has only one bridge, I have been trying to figure out if Sierra County has ever built a single bridge in the last 140 years.  Several bridges were built by the Highway Department that the County inherited, for example the Sugarsand Bridge and Percha Creek Bridge.  The Bridge of Grace below Monticello, built about 10 years ago, may have been built by Sierra County.  Although almost brand new, the bridge apparently needs $1 million in repairs.  I sure wish our area even had a bridge or two to need some repairs.

It appears to me that help from the USFS has all but disappeared.  During the Black Fire almost 1000 people showed up to fight the fire.  Now that flooding is everywhere, good luck trying to find a piece of heavy equipment with a USFS logo on it fixing a road near Winston these days.   

The substantial flooding of roadways downstream from the Black Fire might have been avoided if the Gila National Forest Acting Supervisor, Michael Martinez, had the courage to close the Forest in late April or early May.  He didn’t want to do it – even though other New Mexico fires had destroyed hundreds of homes in April, other northern forests had been closed, and scientific data revealed the Gila was in the most precarious status it had ever been in history.  The fire was human caused.  At 325,000 acres, the Black Fire is the largest single forest fire in the history of New Mexico.  The Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak fire was bigger but it was actually two fires that merged.

I want to thank Sierra County for fixing the worst places on County Road C-003 on October 13.  They quickly responded once they were aware of the flood damage in our area.  We can now get to town and back without being in 4 wheel drive for an hour.  I hope that  the County Commission will give serious thought to working with the NMDOT to get a bridge built on NM 52 at Winston.  Next time a vehicle gets swept away there, someone could be killed.

“Frequent downpours to threaten flash flooding in Texas, New Mexico”
by Alex Sosnowski, Accuweather
October 12, 2022

The same storm that produced spotty thundershowers in Southern California on Tuesday and the same strong cold front responsible for producing severe weather in the Midwest will join forces over portions of the southern Rockies and Plains for several days spanning from Sunday to at least next Tuesday. Parts of Texas and New Mexico could receive upwards of 6 inches of rain in the coming days.

Click on the above link to read this free-access article.