Residents of Rociada are worried about their safety after rain storms flooded much of the area. Three inches of rain caused creeks and rivers to overflow and water to rush over barren land and the debris left by recent fires.
"There was a wall of water coming at us. It was two to three feet high and about 200 feet wide, coming right across the hayfield," John Bartley, who lives on a ranch in Rociada, told KOAT.
Roads were left dangerously muddy and in some sections, the concrete was beginning to collapse, according to the KOAT report. The New Mexico National Guard arrived early in the week to deliver 1,000 free sandbags to devastated residents like Bartley. His family has owned the ranch since 1850 and barely survived the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire, the largest and most damaging fire in the state’s history.
"I've been doing contour plowing on the slopes up here, where it did burn because I knew there was going to be a lot of sediment, a lot of ash, and a lot of debris falling down into our hay fields and irrigation ditches," Bartley told KOAT. “I've already dropped about 400 trees to prevent erosion. You know, we can't wait for anybody to come in here. We've got to get on it now."
