Pecos River rising as evacuations increase

Shelters are open in three counties hit by flash flooding, and the National Guard has been called out to aid in evacuating a mobile home park near Artesia where deep water stranded as many as 60 residents. What the National Weather Service is calling a "historic September rain burst" is living up to its billing with roads washed out around the state, the Pecos River at a 53-year high and the rain still falling. Late Thursday morning rescuers were using a helicopter to pluck as many as 60 residents from the flooded mobile home park in Lakewood about 15 miles south of Artesia. By midafternoon Carlsbad officials shut down the US 285 bridge as a precaution essentially cutting Carlsbad in half. The American Red Cross opened a shelter in Carlsbad at Leyva Middle School and was preparing for evacuees from as many as 200 homes there, a Red Cross spokesperson said. Some of the people rescued in Lakewood also were headed there on buses provided by Eddy County. Water levels have been rising all along the Pecos River with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation saying water levels had double and in some cases tripled in reservoirs. An increased outflow from Avalon Dam at 5,750 cubic feet a second reached Carlsbad just downstream about 9:30 a.m., and the outflow from the dam later rose to 6,000 cfs. While the channel through Carlsbad is designed to handle 20,000 cfs, the BOR said boating and recreation equipment in the river could be at risk. With the expected flooding from Dark Canyon feeding into the Pecos at Carlsbad, the BOR later extended its warning to the Texas border and warned people to stay away from the river and Avalon Dam. At last report the combined flow of the Pecos and Dark Canyon in south Carlsbad had reached 13,000 cfs...more  

This report is from the evening of 9/12.