Evacuation orders were issued on Sept. 29 for five areas in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, amid worsening flooding and warnings about a potential dam failure.
Residents and visitors in Placitas, Hatch, Rincon, Salem, and Garfield were urged to evacuate before weather conditions deteriorate, according to Doña Ana County’s alert.
“Residents who are evacuating should take essential medications, identification, important documents, necessary supplies and items for children and pets,” the alert stated. “Residents should not wait until conditions worsen to evacuate.”
The alert advised residents to use Interstate-25 as an evacuation route and to seek shelter at the Radium Springs Community Resource Center and Doña Ana Community Resource Center.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood warning for northwestern Doña Ana County on Tuesday after dam operators warned that McLeod Dam was at risk of imminent failure.
Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said in a post on X that officials have warned that the dam’s failure could potentially lead to “life-threatening flooding downstream.”
Garfield Elementary School in New Mexico said that for safety reasons, it had moved all students to Hatch Valley High School, where parents can pick them up, according to a Sept. 29 notice posted on Hatch Valley Public School District’s live feed.
The school district later announced in a separate notice that schools would be closed on Sept. 30 to keep students safe during the bad weather.
“Due to the recent heavy rains, we are aware that many of our families are being impacted by impassable roads, flooding, and limited transportation,” it stated.
Hurricane Polo struck the Mexican state of Baja California Sur on Tuesday morning with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph and crossed the Gulf of California. The New Mexico Department of Transportation later reported flooded roads and debris on highways across the state, while parts of Arizona were becoming especially drenched, leading to several water rescues.
Wide swaths of the U.S. Southwest were under flood watches as the complex system of tropical weather spread northeast from Mexico, with Hurricane Polo as the main event.
The emergency management office in Ruidoso Village, New Mexico, issued a voluntary evacuation notice for Upper Canyon on Wednesday, urging people to be prepared to leave their homes because of the risk of landslides from heavy rain.
The office earlier warned that flash flooding may occur through Sept. 30 due to Hurricane Polo and advised people to avoid driving through floodwater.
The Bureau of Land Management in Arizona also reported significant flooding and damage to access roads in a national conservation area and a sand dunes recreation area in the southeastern part of the state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
