Sandbags protect a building in Ruidoso, New Mexico after floods swept through town in July of 2024. This week's floods rose significantly higher. Photo: The Washington Post

Three people died in flooding Tuesday as New Mexico's Rio Ruidoso's banks swelled amid the summer rainy season. The village of Ruidoso and other parts of New Mexico have received more warnings in the past few years as catastrophic wildfires have left vast swaths of once forested land without enough vegetation to absorb and