Doña Ana County seeks state disaster declaration as officials begin flood recovery

Officials overseeing New Mexico’s second largest county are urging Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to declare an emergency due to recent floods they estimate have caused at least $15 million in damages to public infrastructure.

Such a declaration would unlock additional state money to help with recovery.

Two large rain events in late September — from late-season monsoons and the remnants of Hurricane Polo  — dumped more than 5 inches of rain in Las Cruces and surrounding Doña Ana County in southern New Mexico

The Doña Ana County Commission, in a resolution it passed Tuesday, listed Las Cruces and 11 other towns as suffering damage to homes, businesses, roads, utilities and flood-control infrastructure. 

In total, Amanda Bowen, the county’s emergency manager, has calculated at least $15 million in damage, according to data that county officials provided Source NM on Wednesday. That includes at least $9 million in damages reported by the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, which oversees the network of dams, drains and other infrastructure along the southern stretch of the Rio Grande. 

Bowen told commissioners Tuesday that $15 million is almost certainly a low estimate of damages, as she continues to reach out to other public entities to collect more information. 

“We’ll continue, as water subsides and they’re able to better assess all of their infrastructure,” Bowen said. 

Bowen’s office also calculated at least $2.2 in damages within the City of Las Cruces, as well as at least $1.8 million in costs to the county, ranging from more than $1 million to infrastructure the county’s Flood Commission oversees and $561,000 in road damages to $2,000 in overtime for the county animal control officers, according to data county officials provided Source NM on Wednesday.

The governor’s office did not respond to Source NM’s inquiry Wednesday about whether it was considering a disaster declaration for the county. 

The governor’s office last week approved up to $3.75 million in emergency funding statewide for flooding-related costs. It’s not clear from the orders how much of that funding went to Doña Ana County. 

The flooding last month marks the second year in a row of damaging floods in the county. Last July, flash floods in Vado and Del Cerro flooded at least 110 homes and caused additional damage. 

In that case, the Doña Ana County Commission approved $500,000 in an emergency housing fund for indigent families who lost homes they rent or own. County officials described the fund as the first of its kind in New Mexico. 

Commissioners said Tuesday that roughly $166,000 remained from that funding. The disaster declaration they signed enables the remaining balance to go toward families whose homes suffered damage in the flooding last month.