{"id":47546,"date":"2025-07-25T16:06:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T23:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=47546"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:06:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T23:06:29","slug":"where-do-the-presidents-requests-leave-new-mexico-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/where-do-the-presidents-requests-leave-new-mexico-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Do the President\u2019s Requests \ufeffLeave New Mexico?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
Subscribe to NMiF Enews<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\"Floodwaters<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: NMiF Reporter Cailley Chella spent two days in Ruidoso last week, reporting on the aftermath of heavy flooding in the area \u2014 and how residents are responding to yet another natural disaster. <\/em>You can watch her piece on our YouTube channel<\/a>, and it\u2019ll lead this week\u2019s episode of the show. What follows is some additional reporting from Cailley\u2019s time on the ground \u2014 and more she\u2019s gathered since returning.\u00a0<\/em> \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rain is typically something people welcome in New Mexico. In Ruidoso these days, it makes them flinch.\u00a0

The small mountain town in Southeastern New Mexico has flooded four times in just 31 days \u2014 leaving homes destroyed, families displaced, and nerves shot. The most recent flood, which rolled through on Thursday, swept a mobile home down rushing rapids. A video<\/a> of the moment, posted to the \u201cRuidoso Community Support Page\u201d on Facebook, shows the trailer bouncing from tree to tree, being ripped apart as it\u2019s pulled downstream. Within hours, reporters from all over \u2014 CNN, CBS, NBC \u2014 were asking to share it.\u00a0

But for the people in Ruidoso, it\u2019s not just a viral clip. It\u2019s their life.\u00a0

\u2018If my mom didn\u2019t call us, we would have died\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>

That\u2019s what 13-year-old Emerson Fulcher told me while standing in front of his destroyed home in Riverview RV Park. On July 8, the flood that destroyed the Fulchers\u2019 house came fast and furious; the rain fell at a rate of 3.5 inches in 90 minutes. Emerson and his 7-year-old sister, Addy, barely escaped with their lives.\u00a0

Others, including two children staying at their RV park that day, did not.\u00a0

Lindsay Fulcher had called her son from another location, screaming into the phone to get to higher ground. Emerson grabbed his sister and ran to her room.\u00a0

Then the water came.\u00a0

\u201cWe were floating,\u201d he told me. \u201cIt was just like a horror movie.\u201d\u00a0

When I interviewed Emerson and his dad, Jason Fulcher last week, we got another flood watch notification mid-conversation. Emerson\u2019s nerves kicked in.\u00a0

\u201cDad, can we go? We should go now.\u201d\u00a0

Jason told me in the late morning on July 17 the sky looked just like it had the day of the flood: cloudy, but not stormy. Still, we learned that looks can be deceiving. The flooding began again just minutes after our interview, this time with the rain pounding down at a rate of 6 inches per hour.\u00a0

Lindsay Fulcher was supposed to speak with me too, but messaged last-minute to say she couldn\u2019t.\u00a0

\u201cIt\u2019s too soon,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI\u2019m a wreck.\u201d
\u00a0
Jason spoke to me for longer than he had planned. \u00a0

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a plan,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was our life plan.\u201d\u00a0

The Fulchers don\u2019t plan to rebuild. They had flood insurance \u2014 but it only covered $250,000 of the $450,000 home they\u2019d rebuilt after last year\u2019s flood.\u00a0

\u2018It just keeps happening\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>

Monda Milton and her husband Don manage Gavilan Mobile Home Park, just down the road from where the Fulchers\u2019 home was destroyed. On July 24, while she was eating lunch nearby, the floodwaters hit again. It took Milton four hours to get back to the hotel she\u2019s been staying at since the earlier flood rendered her home unlivable.\u00a0

\u201cWe\u2019ve been through a lot,\u201d she told me. \u201cBut this has been the hardest.\u201d\u00a0

Milton and Don are both 72 and dealing with health issues. Now, they don\u2019t have a job and feel pushed into retiring \u2014 and like many of her tenants, they\u2019re struggling to find a place they can afford.\u00a0

The average rent in Ruidoso is around $2,000 a month. At Gavilan, many residents had been paying just $350.\u00a0

Arturo Olivas, one of those residents, lost everything: his trailer, his daughter\u2019s trailer, his Audi.\u00a0
\u201cIt got horrifically worse,\u201d he said, comparing this year to last. Olivas\u2019 wife, Patricia, told me they\u2019ve been trying to leave town since July 17, but they haven\u2019t been able to.
\u00a0
\u201cRuidoso is scary,\u201d Patricia Olivas said.\u00a0

Waiting on help \u2014 and hoping for more\u00a0<\/strong>

Ruidoso\u2019s Mayor, Lynn Crawford, says village leaders are doing what they can with limited resources. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, stepped in July 23, when President Donald Trump declared a federal disaster for Lincoln County. The move frees up grants for temporary housing and repairs.\u00a0

Residents say it\u2019s not enough. After last year\u2019s flooding, some families received just a few thousand dollars. Others say they were never warned they were in a flood zone to begin with.\u00a0

Patricia Olivas is hoping the recent declaration will help them get out of town.\u00a0

Meanwhile, people are helping where they can. Cynthia Schumacher, a realtor from southern New Mexico, spent five days in Ruidoso after the July 8 flood, delivering supplies, organizing housing, and helping residents navigate the chaos.\u00a0

\u201cI just felt like I had to be there,\u201d Schumacher told me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite everything, there\u2019s still hope. Neighbors are helping neighbors. Volunteers are arriving with water, food, and hugs. And while flood alerts now bring dread, people haven\u2019t stopped showing up for one another.\u00a0

\u201cWe don\u2019t know what to do next. We don\u2019t have a plan,\u201d Jason Fulcher said. \u201cBut we\u2019re so blessed that we have our children.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div>

Read more from our Host<\/p>

Cailley Chella<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n