Massive flood devastates historic Rio en Medio

On Tuesday, July 26, a 30-foot wall of water came through the historic village of Rio En Medio, at the base of one of Santa Fe’s most beautiful and beloved hiking trails.

It flooded homes, downed many ancient trees, swept away cars, cut eight-foot channels in the riverbank, caused massive erosion, obliterated bridges and culverts, and changed the face of the land in the village, all in a matter of minutes. Hundreds of large trees burned in the Medio fire two years ago came to rest on properties up and down the valley. Some in the village can no longer even access their property.

Here's a small portion of the damage:

Experts are estimating it as a 500-year flood, unprecedented in living memory. On top of that, because so many trees have been destroyed up into the mountains, a much smaller rain event on August 4 caused additional enormous flooding. This picture shows what much of the upper valley looks like now, with the streambed denuded of most of the vegetation that has in the past slowed the water and allowed it to sink into the ground:

The Rio en Medio valley is a jewel, a vibrant strip of green in our arid landscape with deep ecological importance.

Families that have lived in the village for generations, successfully managing and living with the river's inevitable changes, are now having to do emergency work — replacing culverts, adding gabions, moving debris, etc. On top of that, they're having to figure out how to protect themselves from the much greater floods that will almost certainly come for years, as a result of the wildfire in 2020 and ultimately because of climate change. At $200 per hour for machinery plus materials, the cost is simply impossible for many.

Won’t you please join the Rio en Medio 2022 Flood Recovery campaign and help rebuild this beautiful place? And please share this appeal on all your social media and with friends: https://gofund.me/b02d7485. It is a huge help! Thanks for being part of our recovery.