A helicopter hovered over a flooded stretch of San Juan County on Friday and lifted a stranded person to safety, dramatic footage that captured just one moment in what has become a sprawling, days-long rescue effort across the Four Corners region. Rising waters on the San Juan and Animas rivers have forced evacuations, stranded residents on rooftops, and spread flooding to an extent not observed in more than six decades.
The rescue video was obtained by KOAT, which reported that rising floodwaters in the San Juan and Animas rivers have prompted evacuations and rescues across the Four Corners. Law enforcement officials told the National Weather Service that at least 60 rescues had taken place between Farmington and Bloomfield since Thursday afternoon, according to the same report.
The scale of the emergency has only grown since then. Roughly 600 households were ordered to evacuate in Farmington as areas along the San Juan River were closed off, per the Los Angeles Times. San Juan County spokesman Devin Neeley told the paper that crews were “picking people off of roofs and pulling people out of houses that have 3 or 4 feet of water in them.”
Guard Boats and Amphibious Vehicles Join the Search
An unknown number of people were rescued overnight and continued to be pulled from floodwaters Friday by New Mexico Guard boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles, Neeley said, according to the Los Angeles Times report. County workers have since set up an emergency shelter at McGee Park, near the intersection of U.S. 64 and Road 5568, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
The San Juan River surged Thursday evening, while evacuation orders in Farmington were issued Friday morning; Bloomfield's water reclamation facility was temporarily shut down, per the same Albuquerque Journal account. That disruption carried its own health risk: floodwaters affected the Bloomfield sewage treatment plant, and residents were advised to treat any standing water as potentially contaminated with raw sewage, KOAT separately reported.
Historic River Levels Not Seen Since Before Navajo Dam
The National Weather Service said the current extent of flooding along the San Juan River has not been observed since before the completion of Navajo Dam in 1962, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. A meteorologist with the agency told the Los Angeles Times the region was saturated and “can't take too much more without flooding.”
Forecasters warned the danger isn't over. The San Juan and Animas rivers were expected to keep rising, with the peak not arriving until late Friday night or Saturday morning, according to a report from KSJD, which also reported that San Juan County planned to declare a state of emergency because of the flooding. The Albuquerque Journal noted that the risk of severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall was forecast to persist through Saturday.
A Saturated Southwest Faces Added Risk
The flooding in San Juan County fits a broader pattern across the region. Recent heavy rains have made flooding more likely throughout the Southwest because the ground is already saturated, according to The Guardian. Rainfall totals in the 24 hours before Thursday's flooding exceeded 1.22 inches north of Navajo Dam, with Farmington recording 1.03 inches and Bloomfield 1.01 inches, per the Tri-City Record.
Despite the scope of the rescues and evacuations, no deaths had been reported as of noon. With river crests still expected and storms forecast to continue, crews in San Juan County remain focused on reaching anyone still trapped as the water keeps climbing.
