Ruidoso flood

The deluge of rain that slammed Ruidoso last weekend was hit-or-miss for some Odessa residents who were in the area.

Ana Miller was visiting Ruidoso for a wedding and said she was nearly lulled by the rain, unaware it was damaging parts elsewhere.

"Our home is at a higher level, so we weren't directly impacted," Miller said. "But the destruction was just mind boggling (in other places)."

Miller had arrived 10 p.m. Friday and said it didn't stop raining until 7 a.m. Sunday.

"It's a real tragedy," she said. "I know that the river flows right by people's backyards."

And the torrential rains killed some and devastated property in some places, it didn't scare visitors away.

"On Sudderth Drive, by the Chamber of Commerce, it was like watching rabbits: you could see caps of water rushing so fast - the speed of the water was unbelievable and debris collected as the water pushed," she said.

"It's strange, but on Sunday there were lots of tourists taking pictures," she said.

A friend of the Millers had a deck on the backside of their house and the it washed away, Miller said.

"It's so unexpected, for the residents especially," Miller said. "We can drive away, but the residents are stuck."

And while the damage in Ruidoso is nothing to sneeze at, it wasn't the widespread devastation some reported, Odessan Beverly Porter said.

"The news has made a bigger deal out of it, like the whole town was flooded," said Porter, who drove through Ruidoso on Sunday headed here from her home in Alto, N.M.. "People were shopping downtown as we drove through."

The Associated Press reported Monday that nine bridges were under water and secondary roads in the area were also swept away. Highway 70, which connects with Main Road in downtown Ruidoso, reopened later Monday.

Porter drove through Ruidoso on Highway 48, or Sudderth Drive, around 3:30 p.m. and said she couldn't tell that anything had happened. She said the effects of the flood happened just along the river.

"Houses closer to the river and in Ruidoso Downs were affected," she said. "The river kept spreading and reached the RV Park, but that's farther east from Ruidoso."

Back in Alto, Porter had to pull some carpet up in her home because her drains couldn't hold all the rain, but she said overall, "the town's fine."

"They made it so that it didn't look good for vacationers - they made it sound horrible," she said.