Flash Flood in New Mexico, October 9, 2003

Name: Flash Flood in New Mexico, October 9, 2003
Start: 2003-10-09T18:00
End: 2003-10-09T23:00
Location: New Mexico

October 9, 2003 · NWS MAF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 9, 11:41 AM MST, 6 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 9, 11:41 AM MST, 6 hours 19 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 9, 11:58 AM MST, 6 hours 2 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Eddy

When: October 9, 6:00 PM MST to 11:00 PM MST
Where: Eddy County, Artesia
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 32.472, -104.304 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Occasional thunderstorms and heavy rainfall affected parts of southeast New Mexico during the first week of October. Flash flooding began during the evening hours of the 9th, although no rain fell across the area that day. The local newspaper and officials reported State Highway 229, also called Haldeman Road, was inundated by over three feet of running water in the city of Artesia. This water flowed down Eagle draw, and resulted from run-off in the Sacramento Mountains which are located approximately sixty miles west of Artesia.

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

Every storm in New Mexico in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in New Mexico, October 2003

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5372049.