New Mexico’s flooding rains trapped multiple people and water rescues were under way in the state’s south on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The big picture: The NWS’ Albuquerque office reported after declaring a flash flood emergency for the Ruidoso area that multiple water rescues were under way at the village’s Gavilan Trailer Park.

Threat level: “Significant rainfall and water/debris flow is occurring! This is a life-threatening situation, move to higher ground immediately!” the NWS said on X.

• Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford told the KRUI radio station crews were out searching for three missing people and there were gas leaks in an area where he believes the home was swept away.

Situation report: There were more than 30 water rescues and roads were temporarily closed during the monsoonal rains, Crawford said.

• Crews were working to restore power following outage reports, according to Crawford. “We do have some mud sliding going on,” he said.

Zoom in: Videos from the scene show fast-moving waters sweeping a home down a river and washing debris onto a bridge that then spills onto a road.

• USGS real-time data shows water levels at the Rio Ruidoso were “extremely above” its historic daily averages as of Tuesday evening.
• The river in the Hollywood neighborhood of Ruidoso has reached potentially record levels, per NWS Albuqurque.
• While the warning had been lifted, a flood watch was in effect until 8pm local time.

Zoom out: The emergency situation in N.M. came days after catastrophic flooding in Texas, which has killed more than 100 people, with 161 people still missing in Kerr County.

Between the lines: Research shows climate change is causing extreme precipitation events to be more intense and frequent as a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor, providing added moisture and energy to storm systems.

Go deeper: Americans predict extreme weather chaos to surge in the future

Editor’s note: This a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.