An intense lighting storm and heavy rain that began with high winds struck Aztec and surrounding areas on Monday evening, turning the skies a yellowish-orange. The result was downed trees, debris, damaged roofs and fences, and a muddy mess on Main Avenue and at the Aztec Museum and Pioneer Village.
More heavy rain was predicted for Tuesday evening, a repeat of what Aztec experienced in 2014. One Aztec resident shared her frightening, stormy experience.
One moment, Kathleen Holmes was feeding her horses under a sunny sky. Minutes later, she retreated inside her Knickerbocker Hill home along Road 173 as a violent, fast-moving storm approached. By the time she reached her upstairs window, the wind was shaking the house so hard an elk antler crashed from the fireplace onto the floor. Outside, a 100-pound metal arbor was tossed into a tree.
San Juan County Public Relations Manager Devin Neeley said areas including Aztec, Road 3000 and Flora Vista saw the worst of the sudden storm. While Farmington was largely spared, the county received multiple reports of downed power lines and tree limbs blocking public roads.
Holmes, who has lived in the area for 35 years, said the storm approached rapidly from the east around 6 p.m., with lightning strikes growing closer until her house felt like it was “sitting kind of at a bull’s-eye”
“We have windows facing the east, and I was upstairs looking at some big picture – through some big picture windows – and I saw the storm coming, and suddenly trees were landing on my roof, and on the roof of the porch right below me,” Holmes said.
According to Holmes an aspen and a cottonwood tree were pulled up by the roots, and sheet metal from a hay barn flew five acres away. The heavy metal arbor, which Holmes made herself as a blacksmith artist, was ripped from the ground.
“I saw the wind pick it up and just shoot it off,” she said. “I saw it just traveling through the air, and it’s all wrapped and bent around a tree like a piece of wire.”
While emergency services reported winds around 25 to 30 mph, Holmes believes they were much stronger, comparing it to her past experience surviving a tornado in Virginia.
“This was a lot closer to 70 mph,” she said. “I just don't see how a 35 mph can do that kind of damage.”
Though there is a massive cleanup ahead for her property, Holmes remained positive.
“You know, it could have been a lot worse, and the horses are OK, and we’re OK, so that’s all that really matters in the long run, right?” Holmes said.
Aztec Police Chief and Co-Interim City Manager Troy Morris described the mud damage caused by the storm Monday night in Aztec as overwhelming. “It came all the way down from Blanco, got the museum, and you can see where it even passed the museum, all into the parking lots here and everywhere,” he said.
Morris said electricity was off on the south side of town and crews were out cleaning up the mud both Monday night and Tuesday morning, beginning at 8 a.m.
Describing some of the damage, Morris said the First Baptist Church had part of its roof blown off, the fence across the street at Park Avenue School was knocked down, the fence at Hartman Park was damaged, High Country Chevrolet suffered mud damage as did the Aztec Museum, the Splash Pad near City Hall and Pioneer Village.
Co-Interim City Manager Ed Kotyk said the splash park would be closed indefinitely.
Angela Watkins, Aztec Library director, said the power went out for awhile and she woke up this morning to something that looked like “Louisiana’s hurricane … broken tree branches, the debris all over the roads.”
Kotyk said the power was out for about an hour in a part of Aztec and was still out at 10:30 p.m. on the south side. He confirmed that a lightning strike took out a transformer.
Morris said city employees were being assisted by a private company because another storm was expected on Tuesday afternoon or evening. Clearing the drains under Main Avenue was their priority, he said.
The mud damage was worse than in 2014, Kotyk said.
Former Aztec City Commissioner and Museum board treasurer Jack Scott described the event as a “continuing saga,” because the drains have needed cleaning for years.
In 2014, the city spent $50,000 to clean up mud and debris from heavy rains on consecutive days, he said.
Aztec Museum Executive Director Joan Monninger said there was “a little bit” of water damage in the front upstairs entryway, but it’s fixable.
“The Pioneer Village grounds are a mess,” she said, adding that “fortunately, no water or mud got into the storage areas or the lower level of the main museum building.
She said Scott was a “real hero with all of this beginning last night when he got me out of the building once the mud had subsided.”
Monninger said there will be plenty of work to do in the coming days.
