Torrential rain brings a river of mud to Tesuque; more precipitation is on the way

Jul. 28—TESUQUE — A short-staffed bar, a restaurant chock-full of people — and a flowing river of mud.

Tesuque Village Market cashier Anais Mendez was working the evening shift Tuesday when the rain began to pour. Patrons dining outside rushed back into the restaurant for cover as six to eight inches of mud surged from Griego Hill in the village and trapped a line of cars in the parking lot.

"I figured it'd be done by now," said Mendez, a few hours into late Tuesday's heavy rainstorm, which produced mud and some flooding in Tesuque and other areas in Santa Fe County.

National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Anand said Tesuque received 1.17 inches of rain Tuesday night. It was a storm that filled some arroyos. An official with Santa Fe County said at least one road near Tesuque was damaged and sand and debris were left on a variety of others.

More rain is on the way, forecasters said.

National Weather Service meteorologist David Craft said flash flood warnings likely would be in place through Thursday. He said showers and thunderstorms were forecast for much of the state, thanks to what the weather service termed as a collision between moisture and backdoor cold fronts that could bring torrential rains.

Wednesday brought even more precipitation to the Santa Fe area, where loud and intimidating lightning strikes had people scurrying for shelter in the late afternoon. Problems brought by Tuesday's storm were blamed for malfunctioning traffic lights at St. Francis Drive and Alameda Street, a key chokepoint for downtown traffic. The traffic lights remained out through much of Wednesday.

In Tesuque, the traffic jam was in the Village Market parking lot Tuesday night.

"Mostly everyone that works here knows to move their car right when it starts raining like that so they don't get stuck," said Mendez. "But some people weren't fast enough."

She said the restaurant remained open an hour past its 9 p.m. closing time in order to accommodate patrons whose cars were trapped by cascades of mud.

Some were able to have their cars pulled out of the mud Tuesday night. Others were forced to wait until morning.

One of them was White Rock resident Dennis Remelius, whose Porsche 911 was deeply entrenched in Tesuque's river of mud.

Remelius, who had stopped by the Village Market for an evening cocktail, said he could not have expected this was how his evening would end up.

"I was just standing around there — the sun was shining — and enjoying my cocktail, when it just started raining, and water started pouring off the roof," he said. "I thought, 'Eh, this won't last long.' "

Over the next few hours Remelius ordered something to eat, along with another drink, as he waited for an opportunity to get his car moving again.

After talking with some officials on the scene who were helping to get cars towed, Remelius decided to come back for his Porsche in the morning. He finally got his car Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., and was able to drive it out of Tesuque without a problem.

One of Mendez's co-workers, line cook Rubin Jimenez, was not so lucky.

Jimenez said when heavy rain began to pour Tuesday, Mendez told him to move his beloved 2003 Mustang before it was too late.

"I went through many things with that car, and it has never let me down," Jimenez said. "It's been part of my family ... for a long time."

By the time he got inside the vehicle, it was already floating. Jimenez had to escape through a window. Later in the evening, once the rain abated, Jimenez said a fire department crew tried to help him pull it out of the mud.

As he put the Mustang into reverse, it began smoking.

"I thought it was, like, going to explode or something," said Jimenez.

Mendez started a GoFundMe page Wednesday to repair Jimenez's Mustang if it can be salvaged or to buy her co-worker a new car.

"Rubin is one of the hardest working, kindhearted and jovial people I know and if anyone deserves help and a smile after such a loss, it's him," Mendez wrote on the fundraiser's page.

The mudslides off Griego Hill also affected the property across from Village Market — the Sol Y Sombra Trailer Park owned by Gilbert Ortega.

His son, Diego Ortega, witnessed the flooding firsthand.

"It was like literally a river from my driveway — it was so bad," said Diego Ortega. "I tried to go check on our trailer court from the roadway, and I couldn't even get that way."

Fortunately, the flood did not affect the property's gas meter and underground line — which Gilbert Ortega said worried him the most.

"This is a high pressure line here. ... It would affect the whole place," he said.

Flooding extended past Tesuque; Rio Arriba County Public Works Department administrator Napoleon Garcia said he received numerous calls about problems in the corridor between Dixon and Ojo Sarco. Crews were assessing damage Wednesday, he added.

"That's kind of the norm for us, it goes with the monsoon season," he said. "We know we're going to get some kind of event in that area and then we're geared up to, you know, jump on it as soon as the event takes place."