Deadly floodwaters feared by residents and public safety officials since the early start of the summer monsoon have struck the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon burn scar.

Two people were found dead Thursday afternoon in the Mineral Hill area northwest of Las Vegas, N.M., as the Tecolote River rose and breached its banks, said Chief Tim Nix of the Cabo Lucero Volunteer Fire Department.

His agency and others were still searching Friday for a third person who went missing during the storm.

The names and ages of the victims and missing person have not been publicly released.

The Cabo Lucero department received a call around 2:20 p.m. Thursday about a vehicle floating in water from flash flooding on San Miguel County Road A16C near a youth camp called Camp Blue Haven, Nix said. Crews responding to the report found one body upstream from the vehicle and one downstream.

The San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office and New Mexico State Police also responded to the incident, and the New Mexico National Guard is aiding in the search for the missing person.

State police Officer Dusty Francisco, a spokesman for the agency, declined to comment on the fatalities. He referred questions to the sheriff’s office.

San Miguel County Sheriff Chris Lopez did not return a call seeking comment.

It didn’t appear the people who died in the flooding had been traveling in the vehicle or that someone had tried to drive the vehicle across floodwaters, Nix said.

“The vehicle did not have anybody in it,” he said, adding officials believe floodwaters had swept it downstream from a home.

In his department’s area, he said, “this is the first major flooding event since the fire.” His crews have not responded to any other emergency incident or rescue operation.

“Heavy rain started occurring up on the side of the mountains,” causing the Tecolote River to quickly rise, Nix said of Thursday’s storm.

The U.S. Forest Service said in a report Friday morning heavy rains had fallen over most of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon burn scar, an area that stretches for more than 530 square miles. The Thursday storms produced “over an inch of rain in less than an hour in some places, causing substantial flooding,” the report said.

A landslide blocked N.M. 121 through Mora County, which took several hours to clear out, according to the report. It also said fire crews conducting repair work have been pulling logs out of the Gallinas Creek drainage area.

In response to the flooding, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sent a letter Friday to President Joe Biden asking him to expand and extend the state’s disaster declaration for wildfires.

The governor repeated a request for the federal government to include in the declaration damage from post-wildfire flooding and to cover 100 percent of costs associated with flood mitigation, destruction and recovery. The initial request for the expansion of the disaster declaration was made July 13, she noted.

That was two days after Biden visited Santa Fe and issued an executive order calling for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover 100 percent of the costs of a disaster for the first 90 days.

That period has passed for the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, which ignited in April from two separate federal controlled burns that raged out of control amid extreme drought conditions and weeks of heavy winds.

Lujan Grisham wrote in the letter that the wildfire, the largest in the state’s history at over 341,000 acres, destroyed more than 900 structures.

FEMA resources for firefighting and recovery efforts have been helpful, the governor wrote.

But, she added, “New Mexico continues expending resources to fight the declared fire, mitigate flood impacts throughout the state including post fire debris flows, and maintain response capability during the ongoing wildfire and monsoon seasons.”

She asked Biden to “direct FEMA to grant this extension without delay.”

The wildfire destroyed telephone landlines, cellular and television systems, drinking water systems and other infrastructure, the governor wrote in the letter.

Nix also spoke about the lack of communication services, which make it difficult for residents in the burn area to receive notifications of flood warnings and to reach family, friends or emergency responders in a dire situation.

It could be several months, possibly a year, before some services are operational, he added.

The fire chief urged residents to keep an eye on the weather and to let loved ones know about any plans to travel away from the home.

Flash flooding can occur rapidly, he noted, and debris can block roadways during an evacuation effort.

He recommended residents caught in a heavy storm or stranded by floodwaters wait until conditions calm before traveling and to never cross streams, rivers or water flowing across a roadway.

Instead, he said, “Seek higher ground immediately.”

Cynthia is a News Content Editor for The Santa Fe New Mexican.

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