Harper Valley flood recovery stalls

Last week, a powerful Pacific storm sent the San Juan and Animas rivers overflowing into the neighborhoods of San Juan County, New Mexico. The water receded this week, leaving behind a landscape of muddy debris and structural damage that has forced three generations of local residents to leave their homes.

In the Harper Valley subdivision of Farmington, the damage is visible from the street. Andrew Gilbert’s home appears intact on the outside, but the interior has been stripped to the studs. The flooring is gone, the walls are torn down to knee height, and power tools are scattered across the living room floor. A decorative sign reading “Bless this Home with Love and Laughter” remains hanging above the wreckage. Gilbert’s parents and grandparents, who live nearby, have also been displaced.

The flooding began late last week when the storm systems converged, pushing water levels beyond the 100-year floodplain that residents believed kept their properties safe. Gilbert, a lieutenant with the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, was on duty during the initial surge. He coordinated evacuations in other neighborhoods before rushing home to help his own family. He described neighbors filling sandbags in the street median while water washed against their houses. In one instance, he and deputies commandeered a floating boat to rescue an elderly neighbor who was reluctant to leave his dogs behind.

Evacuation orders remain in effect for Harper Valley, Lee Acres, Wild Horse Valley, and parts of Bloomfield. Officials are keeping residents on high alert because additional rainfall is expected over Halloween weekend. Many of the 1,500 homes in the evacuation zones are waiting for the weather to stabilize before rebuilding can begin.

The financial outlook for recovery is uncertain. New Mexico has secured a total of $54.75 million for the flood response. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized $42.75 million of that sum on Thursday. President Donald Trump signed an emergency declaration on Monday covering four counties and tribal lands in northwestern New Mexico. This declaration allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover 75% of eligible emergency costs, leaving the state to pay the remaining 25%.

At a press conference on Monday, the governor criticized the current reimbursement system. She said the process is too slow and requires a significant local match. She plans to ask the White House for a major disaster declaration to unlock more aid for individual homeowners. “The federal money based on reimbursements, it is really slow,” she said. “It is too slow, and it requires a 25% match by the local community. I don’t like that match, and I don’t like how slow it is.”

Residents like Gilbert are facing steep repair bills without the safety net of flood insurance. Russell Allen, an assessor for Triple Eagle Construction, provided free estimates in Harper Valley on Wednesday. He placed the cost of repairs for many homes between $100,000 and $175,000. Gilbert filed an insurance claim but learned his policy does not cover flood damage because the neighborhood was not in the designated floodplain. “We do not have flood insurance,” Gilbert said. “What we were told is that all of these houses that are down here in this neighborhood were not in the floodplain.”

Devin Neeley, a spokesperson for San Juan County, noted that some displaced residents are staying in abandoned buildings or bathrooms, with eight people sharing a room in some cases. “It's going to be a long recovery, and folks who've lost everything have to start from scratch in many cases,” Neeley said.

In Fruitland, 72-year-old Beth Souleret lost her 120-year-old family farm to the rising water. A sheriff’s deputy knocked on her door to warn her to leave. She managed to save three dogs but lost her 20-year-old mare and other animals in the pasture. She is currently staying at an American Red Cross shelter in McGee Park in Farmington. “This has been the hardest week,” Souleret said. Jaimi Mueller, the community disaster program manager for the Red Cross, said her team is organizing movie nights and puzzles to help lift the spirits of the evacuees.

Gilbert’s family is preparing to move into a camping trailer as temperatures drop. They are working to repair their home with the help of neighbors, but water still seeps into the crawl space. “That's been really hard because the kids are kind of spread out,” Gilbert said. “We're just trying to get to a place where we can all be together again.”