In New Mexico, a Tourist Village Struggles to Rebuild After Flash Flood Kills 3 People

Residents of Ruidoso say they had yet to recover from severe flooding a year earlier.

Matthew Sheffield, 15, walks through the muddy kitchen of his grandmother's house that was severely damaged by a flash flood in Ruidoso, N.M., on July 8, 2025. Photo taken on July 9, 2025. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

RUIDOSO, N.M.—Entering Stephanie Sheffield’s two-story home by the Rio Ruidoso in the village of Ruidoso, New Mexico, feels like stepping into the aftermath of a cyclone.

Furniture, clothing, appliances, and other personal belongings are strewn about and overturned as if nature had ransacked the house without mercy.