Here’s a look at today’s headlines:
The Catwalk National Recreation Area will be temporarily closed until further notice, due to concerns of flooding and public safety. As a result of tropical storm Newton, the National Weather Service has issued multiple warnings for heavy rains and flash flooding, with forecasted amounts of 2-4 inches of rain over the next 24-hour period. There is a strong potential for isolated areas to receive higher precipitation, and the National Weather Service has specified the San Francisco River Valley as a potential flash flood area through late tonight. The Glenwood Ranger District will monitor weather conditions and river flow rates over the course of the next 36 hours and will reopen the Catwalk area as soon as it is considered publicly safe to do so. Please be careful of all low water crossings and flood-prone areas.
The National Weather Service of El Paso has issued a Flood Watch through Thursday. Increasing moisture ahead of Hurricane Newton could bring heavy rain and flash flooding to much of the area. Affected areas include the upper Gila River Valley, Southwest Desert, and Uplands of the Bootheel; including the cities of Cliff, Silver City, Fort Bayard, Mimbres, Hurley, Lordsburg, Truth or Consequences, Hillsboro, and Deming. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches is possible and will increase the threat of flash flooding. Expect heavy rainfall to cause runoff that will fill normally dry arroyos and cause streams to have sharp rises and heavy flows. Flooding of low water crossing and flood-prone low-lying areas is also expected.
The New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity gathered Tuesday for the first time in Deming for its regular meeting on the Gila River Diversion project. Luna County represents one of four counties that would have access to water from any dam on the Gila River. Representatives of the four counties make up the major players in the CAP Entity, including Luna, Grant, Hidalgo and Catron counties and the potential water available is up to 14,000 acre feet.
FFA chapters that developed a plan to tackle an environmental or emergency preparedness issue in their communities now have the funding from a national grant to bring their ideas to life. Deming High School’s FFA program was among those awarded, though the amount of grant money the program received is unknown. Each winning project includes plans to invest the time of FFA members, community members and local leaders in a service-learning project that tackles an environmental or emergency preparedness issue.
In sports news, the New Mexico Activities Association has announced that the Silver High School boys’ soccer team has been recognized as the Compete with Class award recipient for the month of August. The NMAA would like to thank and recognize the Silver High School boys’ soccer team for setting a great example for the state of New Mexico. Their act of sportsmanship exemplifies the true ideals of the Compete with Class Sportsmanship Initiative.
Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced that New Mexico will receive $2,604,223 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve access to potentially life-saving treatment and prevention programs for people addicted to prescription opioids. In 2014, New Mexico had the second-highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Udall and Heinrich have strongly urged Congress to provide funding and support to help communities treat and prevent prescription opioid drug abuse.
