Flash Flood, Sandoval
- When
- July 29, 3:30 PM MST to 6:00 PM MST
- Where
- Sandoval County, Rio Rancho
- Property damage
- $1.0 million
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 35.689, -106.866 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in New Mexico, July 29, 1999
Heavy rain of 2 inches in about 2 hours caused road and soil erosion in northern Rio Rancho. No injuries were reported, but residents in some of the newer or remote subdivisions on the far north edge of the city were stranded after numerous dirt roads and low water arroyo crossings were washed out.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1.0 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.
Heavy rain of 2 inches in about 2 hours caused road and soil erosion in northern Rio Rancho. No injuries were reported, but residents in some of the newer or remote subdivisions on the far north edge of the city were stranded after numerous dirt roads and low water arroyo crossings were washed out. Some roads became gullies 4 feet deep and 14 feet wide. The area around the city land fill suffered heavily with two miles of road isolated by at least 5 deep cuts. Damage costs were restricted to time and labor associated with road clearing and grading, small culvert replacement and to the lose of several heavy tractors near the land fill which were buried in 4 to 5 feet of mud and sand.
The radar
The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:30 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Wisconsin, July 29 to 31, 1999
- Heat in Texas, July 29, 1999
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, July 29, 1999
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, July 29, 1999
- Heat in Minnesota, July 29 to 30, 1999
- Lightning Strike in North Carolina, July 29, 1999
- Damaging Wind and Lightning Strike in North Carolina, July 29, 1999
- Tornado in Texas, July 29, 1999
- Damaging Winds in Ohio, July 29, 1999
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, July 29, 1999
- Damaging Wind in Virginia, July 29, 1999
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, July 29, 1999
More
Every storm in New Mexico in 1999Every state in 1999This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, July 1999
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5704103.