New Mexico Floods Damaging But Also Brought Drought Relief

Recent flooding brought widespread damage to New Mexico, but the rain also provided significant relief for the state’s drought. Some places, like Albuquerque, are still well short of their 36-month rainfall average, but the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico came out ahead, the Albuquerque Journal reported.Pecos reservoir storage for area farmers went from 11 percent full to 92 percent in less than two weeks. While the flooding created problems in Pecos Valley towns, the boost to the water supply was a blessing in the drought-plagued communities, according to Aron Balok, head of the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District, the valley’s largest farm water management agency. “It got pretty close to my house,” Balok said of the arroyo flood flows, “and I still didn’t say I wished it would stop.”