The mountain village of Ruidoso has returned to the grim rituals of rebuilding from flash flooding. Crews are working to clear twisted metal, broken trees and muddy debris from streets and homes days after monsoon rains triggered a deadly flash flood in southern New Mexico.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood emergency for Ruidoso on Tuesday, warning of rapidly deteriorating conditions and rising river levels

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency for the village of Ruidoso, in an area that was scarred by wildfires last year.

A house with a turquoise door became a widely shared image of flooding in southern New Mexico when it was swept past a brewery that was designated a safe spot for anyone seeking higher ground.

Raging floodwaters in Ruidoso in southern New Mexico killed at least three people, including two children overnight according to authorities. Officials confirmed a Fort Bliss soldier and their spouse are in the hospital with serious injuries and that their two children are among the dead.

The neighbouring state of Texas also experienced a major flood just a few days earlier, but with a very different outcome. The ferocity of the inundation in Texas caught forecasters and state officials by surprise, killing at least 119 people.

The loss of three lives to flash flooding in the mountain village of Ruidoso is “unfathomable and unfair,” New Mexico’s governor said Thursday, as surveys revealed more extensive damage to homes than initially thought.