A tornado touched down in midtown Santa Fe on Saturday night, toppling trees, tearing roofs off homes and knocking out power to hundreds of residents in a city where officials say they cannot recall such a storm ever striking before. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for northeastern Santa Fe County just after 7 p.m., and within the hour, emergency crews were fanning out across the Rancho Siringo and Camino Chueco neighborhoods to assess the damage.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the twister struck a neighborhood near Rancho Siringo and Camino Chueco. City spokesperson Peter Olson described the scene bluntly: “I see a lot of trees down. I see a lot of damage from houses,” he said, with one home's roof reportedly blown into its front yard. As of 10 p.m., officials said no injuries had been reported.
City officials, writing for the Santa Fe New Mexican, reported that homes in the city's midtown area were damaged by a tornado touchdown near Rancho Siringo, with storm reports describing downed trees and downed power lines scattered across the Rancho Siringo and Camino Chueco area. Olson urged people to avoid the affected area as crews worked through the damage. Not every account settled on the same language for what hit the city — KOB 4 reported that while the City of Santa Fe said a tornado touched down and caused significant damage to the neighborhood, the storm's damage to a carport and a ceiling was tied more generally to the National Weather Service's tornado warning rather than a confirmed touchdown.
Flooding and a Swift-Water Rescue Along the Santa Fe River
The same severe thunderstorm that triggered the tornado warning also dumped heavy rain across the city, with a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado tracked moving north over Santa Fe at 25 mph around 7:01 p.m., per the Albuquerque Journal. Traffic backed up on Interstate 25, where motorists were stranded. First responders performed a swift-water rescue along the Santa Fe River after a driver became stuck in an arroyo, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
KOAT reported that residents described knocked-down trees, structural damage, torn-off roofs and debris strewn about as emergency crews responded to the Rancho Siringo and Camino Chueco area. Arroyos, drainage channels, streambeds and flooded streets were all flagged as hazards as the rain and storms continued into the night, the station noted. Santa Fe Police Lt. Roberto Rodriguez said the Santa Fe Fire Department was checking homes in the Camino Chueco area for storm damage, though police had not received calls identifying any one specific house as having been hit.
Citywide Shelter-in-Place Issued, Then Lifted
As the storm bore down, Santa Fe Police issued an emergency alert warning residents of hazardous weather and urging them to shelter indoors and stay off the roads, according to the Los Alamos Reporter. The City of Santa Fe issued a citywide shelter-in-place order Saturday evening because of the storm damage, though it was later lifted, KOB 4 reported. Olson also urged people to stay indoors and avoid water crossings and arroyos, warning that additional bad weather was expected later that night.
Public Service Company of New Mexico reported that several hundred Santa Fe customers lost power, with outages concentrated west of Yucca Street and south of Siringo Road. The utility said it expected restoration early Sunday morning. Photos shared with KOB 4 showed the extent of the damage near Camino Chueco, off Camino Carlos Rey and Siringo Road, after the storm moved through around 7 p.m.
A Rare Event for a City Unused to Tornadoes
Severe weather, flooding and tornado warnings affected much of New Mexico Saturday, and the storms even delayed the start of the New Mexico Lobos-North Dakota State Bison football game in Albuquerque. But the tornado touchdown in Santa Fe stood out for its rarity.
Forecasters expect some relief heading into the new week. The National Weather Service forecast rain for Santa Fe on Sunday, but with a lower risk of flooding and severe storms than Saturday's event, and predicted no rain at all for Monday.
