Rio en Medio faces flash flood threat: 'How do you fight against Mother Nature?'
Aug. 8—When Eileen Jimenez heard the roaring noise approaching from above her home in Rio en Medio nearly two weeks ago, she knew what was coming.
"A monster, absolutely attacking us," she said.
The invader — a high, deep, wide and fast-moving flash flood tearing up trees, logs, boulders and other debris caught in its path — returned again Thursday night, once again bringing a sense of fear to the Jimenez homestead and their neighbors.
Residents of the small village, nestled in a canyon about 12 miles north of Tesuque, were clearing access roads of debris late last week.
Some did something few New Mexicans would do in normal times.
They prayed for the rain — to stop.
But these are not normal times, as flash floods run fast and furiously over burn scars scattered around the state, bringing a brand new threat of terror to residents who, in many cases, were already hit hard by the fires that preceded the floods.
In Rio en Medio, the worry comes from the burn scar caused by the 2020 Medio Fire north of the village.
Reid Whittlesey, a riparian restoration expert who just moved to the Rio en Medio valley this spring, said the notion of a 100-year flood may have to be adjusted to "a new 10-year flood event" in the area.
The Medio Fire is long gone. But the damage done remains a daily threat as long as rains are in the area.
Meteorologist Brian Guyer of the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said Friday even if a "burn scar is a few years old, it takes a while for the vegetation to return to where it can keep the soil in place. Any burn scars that do receive repeated rounds of rainfall, like Medio, increase the risk of additional flash flooding."
That's not good news for Julie Rehmeyer, whose property, like the Jimenez place, can be accessed only by crossing a bridge over the usually shallow river that runs nearby. She moved to the area in the late 1990s and built her house and the bridge after falling love with the place while hiking nearby.
She said the river would run perhaps 8 feet wide and less than 2 feet deep most of the time.
But during the first flood on July 26, witnesses said it ran 20 to 25 feet in depth and 40 feet wide, carrying away a number of vehicles. At least one, a truck with a make and model difficult to ascertain, was still covered in mud and debris perhaps a half-mile down the canyon from her property Friday morning.
Rehmeyer said she hasn't seen anything like this in her nearly 25 years of living in Rio en Medio.
"The canyon is so narrow that if a flash flood happened, you'd never get out of the way," she said.
Rehmeyer pointed to a large swath of smashed trees and grasslands mixed with mud, boulders and other pieces of debris. Not long ago, she said, there were "10 times more" trees standing in the area.
The two floods took the rest out, she said.
Based on interviews with several residents and a drive through the canyon, few if any houses or living structures were damaged or flooded, though some sheds and smaller buildings took in water. Nor was anyone hurt in the two floods, residents said.
Leah Morton took to higher ground anyway Thursday as the second flood began. The watery deluge washed out her access road across the river as well as three restorative garden areas she had been growing.
Surveying the wet, muddy and plowed-down grass around her property, she said every step of the roughly 25-step stone stairway that led to a small meditation facility above her house made her feel safer Thursday night.
Even her rooster took to higher ground, hightailing it to the top of a picnic table, where he crowed and crowed, as if to celebrate being alive.
She said she is gratified to be alive and glad no one was injured. She hopes county and state officials come to the area to survey the damage.
Eileen Jimenez and her husband, Steve Jimenez, had already hired some contractors to clear away enough debris from the area to be able to traverse it with Steve Jimenez's small all-terrain vehicle. But a car or truck would likely not make it.
The water eroded the soil under and around the bridge, creating a small cliff over which the flood water was still cascading Friday.
The couple put out about 30 sandbags to protect their property, Eileen Jimenez said. On Friday, only three were visible. The rest, she assumed, were washed away.
The two floods, she said, made her realize "you can lose everything you built."
"We could have lost each other," Steve Jimenez said.
Still, Eileen Jimenez said they are lucky compared to many in the Mora Valley and elsewhere who lost homes to the historic Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire and the flash flooding that followed it.
"I'm thankful to be alive, thankful my house is standing," she said.
Some praised local firefighters who waded the river the night of the first flood to check on the couple.
Some residents said Santa Fe County Emergency Manager Martin Vigil visited the village to review the damage but they were not sure if county workers would be coming to help clear roads and shore up bridges. The county last week issued a news release that announced the Rio en Medio Open Space would remain closed.
Vigil did not return a call or email seeking comment Friday.
On Friday, Rehmeyer set up a GoFundMe campaign to solicit donations to help those impacted by the flood in Rio en Medio. The fund site — gofund.me/fb05ae2e — includes an 18-second video of the flood washing under her bridge.
Meanwhile, Eileen Jimenez can only hope there's a lull in the rain.
"I'm frightened. ... How do you fight against Mother Nature?"
