Crews battle deadly New Mexico wildfires as clouds, flooding loom

Fire crews braced for flooding, lightning and cooling weather as they battled a pair of growing fires Thursday that have killed at least two people while tearing through an evacuated mountain village in southern New Mexico.

Residents of the village of Ruidoso fled the larger fire with little notice as it swept into neighbourhoods on Tuesday. The National Weather Service reported overcast skies with temperatures in the 60s (16-21 degrees Celsius) on Thursday morning at an small airport 15 miles (22 kilometers) northeast of Ruidoso.

The fires advanced along the mountain headwaters of Eagle Creek and the Rio Ruidoso with 0% containment Thursday, with crews using heavy equipment to build fire lines while water and retardant dropped from the air.

The big concern right now is flooding, Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford told the KWMW W105 radio on Thursday. We got less than two-tenths of an inch of rain yesterday but because of all the burn scar, there's nothing holding it up. We had flooding ..