LAKEWOOD, N.M. – Severe weather claimed the life of an oilfield worker in New Mexico and forced emergency workers to rescue dozens of others as remnants of former Hurricane Odile moved throughout the state Friday.
Eddy County emergency officials said the oilfield worker who went missing was found dead after his vehicle got stuck in water earlier Friday near Loving, KOB-TV reports (http://goo.gl/Q66Xc0). The man and a passenger climbed on top of the car, but they both got caught in the flood, officials said.
The passenger climbed to safety, authorities said.
Officials found the oilfield worker's body later Friday. His name has not been released.
Meanwhile, the National Guard worked Friday to rescue 40 oilfield workers stranded on a county road near Artesia.
Early Friday in Eddy County, about three dozen residents were evacuated because of flooding from the remnants of former Hurricane Odile.
The residents fled Lakewood's SKP Ranch RV Park after its evaporation pond flooded and the park's emergency sirens sounded, the Artesia Daily Press reports (http://goo.gl/eD9bNY)
The flooding in Lakewood engulfed vehicles and closed a number of roads.
"If we didn't get out when we did, we would have had to be evacuated by helicopters," park resident Robert Nyman said. Nyman was one of the residents airlifted last year following a similar flood.
Debra Simmonds-Amari, president of the park's co-op, said the park itself hasn't flooded but its evaporation pond has overflowed. The evaporation pond is an essential factor in providing a clean water supply to the park, and, Simmonds-Amari said, is essential to the park's survival.
Gov. Susana Martinez later visited with evacuees at the fairgrounds where temporary shelter was set up. "We will be in constant contact with the emergency operations center to say, 'Give these people a break,' " Martinez said.
Severe weather also forced Carlsbad Caverns National Park to close Friday because of flooding of its entry road.
The threat of heavy rainfall will move east out of New Mexico by late Thursday, forecasters said.
Storms dropped more than 4 inches of rain on the small town of Rodeo near the Arizona border early Thursday. That caused street flooding and reports of swamped homes.
