McLeod Dam near failure prompts evacuations in Doña Ana County

Evacuation Orders Issued for Doña Ana County

The National Weather Service designated the situation as particularly dangerous, placing portions of Highways 187 and 390 under threat alongside the Garfield Drain and Garfield Canal. Officials warned that a failure of McLeod Dam would send a sudden surge of water downstream with little time for escape. Downstream communities including Hatch, Garfield, Salem, and Rincon were advised to seek higher ground immediately. In the Hatch Valley, local schools announced they would close Wednesday in response to the escalating crisis. A stream breached levees near a water treatment plant in Rincon, threatening nearby buildings.

Tropical Storm Remnants Fuel Broad Southwest Flood Risk

Tropical moisture from Polo combined with Tropical Storm Rachel in the eastern Pacific and a slow-moving weather system over the Southwest to expand the flood threat across multiple states. By Sept. 29, Flood Watches were active across 10 states. The highest flood risks through Sept. 30 spanned parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Weather forecasts indicated that nearly 80 trillion gallons of water—equivalent to more than 122 million Olympic-sized swimming pools—could fall across the United States over the course of the week.

Widening Threat Across the Plains and Midwest

Heavy rainfall is projected to extend northward and eastward into the central United States through the end of the week, with potential downpours stretching from Texas to Minnesota. Frank Pereira of NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center noted that heavy rain in the southern Plains would wind down by Friday before shifting into the Southeast over the weekend. The Weather Prediction Center issued a Level 3 moderate risk for excessive rainfall on a four-level scale, effective from Tuesday through Thursday. Forecasters cautioned that repeated rounds of heavy rain falling on saturated ground could produce severe flash flooding, particularly in wildfire burn scars such as areas affected by the Aspen Acres Fire in southern Colorado, where single-day rainfall totals could exceed normal September averages several times over.