News Item

From the Portales News-Tribune:

Rain hit eastern New Mexico hard Wednesday night, with Portales taking the brunt of the inclement weather with about an inch of rain, but emergency crews in both Portales and Clovis reported they responded to no calls for injuries.

PNT photo

Mark Fettig, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said the highest rain total reported in Roosevelt County was 1.1 inches a mile northeast of Portales. The biggest issues in Curry County were with dust and wind, Fettig said, but he noted reports of hail in Texico and west of Clovis, and rainfall measured at .78 inches a mile northwest of Clovis.

At the Cannon Air Force Base monitoring station, Fettig said, there were reports of .55 inches of rain, with wind gusts of 69 mph and 4-inch diameter tree limbs broken.

[...]

Several vehicles were reported abandoned on 18th Street Wednesday night in Portales because of severe flooding, according to Portales police, prompting officers to close off the street.

Dora Fire Chief Paul Luscombe said trees and power lines were down in the area but there was no significant damage. Luscombe said he’s thankful people remained safe and that damage was minimal, a small price to pay for the rain the area needs.

“It was a pretty big event,” Luscombe said. “Thank God for the rain. We’ll take the hiccups as long as we get the rain.”

"A pretty big event" doesn't begin to describe the storm; it was the worst/best I've seen in my ten years here in P-Ville and among the hardest rain I've EVER seen... and remember I've been in monsoon rains in both the Pee-Eye and Thailand.  Oh, and Mrs. Hippy, too.  The other thing that was significant is how long the rain lasted... the better part of three hours.  Most rain storms we get here on The High Plains o' New Mexico last about a half-hour and then they're gone.  It rained so hard and so long last evening that the empty field across from El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington turned into a veritable lake.  I was also worried that the 17th Street Canal and Intra-City Waterway might just make it up to my front door, as it was higher than I've EVER seen it.

We lost our satellite feed as well, right in the middle of the Broons-Flightless Birds game.  I missed most of the second period but the feed came back in time for all of the third, the first OT, and Bergeron's winner in the second OT.  THAT was quite the game, Gentle Reader.  Quite the storm, too.