Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Inch of rain fell Tuesday, but no flooding reported

Jackie Schlotfeldt News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jschlotfeldt@news-bulletin.com

Its bark was much worse than its bite.

From the sound of cracking thunder and the brilliant flashes of lightning near midnight Monday night, you would have thought the skies had opened up and dumped an incredible amount of rain onto the previously soaked county.

While nearly an inch of moisture fell during the wee hours Tuesday morning, it was a slow, steady rain that did not cause the flooding or ponding of water seen just a week ago from two storms that hit the City of Belen.

Belen Fire Chief Manny Garcia said he went out during the rainstorm, checking areas for flooding but everything seemed to hold up well.

"We didn't have any issues," Garcia said. "The drains worked and did their job."

Bosque Farms Fire Chief Spencer Wood said the northern area of the county fared well also.

"The night before, we got an inch of rain in half the city and nothing in the other half," Wood said. "We have a few mud puddles, but we didn't have any trouble."

Los Lunas too experienced precipitation during the night, but fire chief Lito Chavez said to his knowledge they didn't have any problems.

"We got a steady rain, not a torrential rain," Chavez said.

County Fire Chief Charles Eaton said the county did well but he has received a few calls from residents requesting sandbags, not because they've experienced any flooding in their homes, but more as a preventive measure in case of heavier rains.

"Today we are picking up some sandbags from the correctional facility and they will be available for county residents at the county yard on N.M. 314 next to Daniel Fernandez Park." For information, call 866-2040.

Currently, the county is a little above average in the amount of rainfall seen to date and, with the monsoon season still in effect, there could be more coming.

To date, approximately 5.22 inches of rain has fallen compared to the average 4.27 normally experienced by this time of year in Belen. The average rainfall for the year is on average 7.72 inches.

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