© 2024 KRWG
News that Matters.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

New Mexico Braces For Post-Fire Flooding

Forecasters are calling for more thunderstorms to settle in over the burned mountain sides of New Mexico, prompting some communities to brace for flash flooding.

The chance of storms dumping more moisture on the areas burned by the Tres Lagunas, Jaroso, Pacheco Canyon, Thompson Ridge and Wallow fires is better than 60 percent.

The National Weather Service in Albuquerque says the risk is highest on Saturday and Monday.

Lands burned by wildfire are more susceptible to sediment, dead trees and debris washing off into streams and rivers. Several hundred square miles of New Mexico forest have burned in just the last three years.

State police issued a warning Friday, saying the villages of Pecos and Villanueva could be affected by post-fire flooding.

In Pecos Canyon, residents have been stacking sandbags, but some flooding has already occurred.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.