It’s been year after year of extreme events in Ruidoso, from the McBride Fire in 2022 to the South Fork and Salt Fire in 2024, followed by flooding in 2024 and again in 2025. Residents are left asking where federal disaster aid is and whether they even want to stay.“Well, it’s slow. You know, there’s a long process on that,” Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said.For those past disasters, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been approved for fire and flood recovery for public projects, although approval does not mean payment.“We’ve sent them off months and months ago, and we have about 19 to 20 of those that have been obligated,” Crawford said, explaining that it means FEMA has approved the funding. That FEMA money will go towards public projects like roads and flood prevention; they are just waiting on one final federal sign-off.“We’re just waiting on DHS to say yes so we can start spending that money getting the engineering done,” he said. “So when we get the email that says you’re good to go, then we’ll start going,” Crawford said.For residents still waiting on FEMA funding, the answers are less clear.“There’s not a great answer,” Crawford said, “I understand, and we’ve had a lot of folks that have invested their livelihood in businesses, in just a home that is gone, and your regular insurance doesn’t cover it. So what do you got? You got nothing,” Crawford added.Crawford said city officials are continuing to work with FEMA but are also looking at other government programs, like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which just allocated $90 million.“That $90 million of housing funding is dedicated for Lincoln and Chavez counties,” he said, “That is for those folks that were affected by the fire and the flood in 2024. So we’re getting a list of those people, we’re still probably three months out before we get to roll this program out,” Crawford said.Now, with the recent ice storm, the city is preparing to apply for additional FEMA funding. Crawford said the city is documenting everything from overtime to storm damage to support new applications.Some families are responding to the recent weather in their own way.“All I can say is I live very happy. I have my kids with me, and you know we can’t… avoid destruction. It happens everywhere all over the world,” said Mary Blackman, a Ruidoso resident of 35 years. “I mean, it’s a beautiful town. I love it here. The disasters that hit me in 2022…it was hard, but we survived it, and everybody else will,” she said.
It’s been year after year of extreme events in Ruidoso, from the McBride Fire in 2022 to the South Fork and Salt Fire in 2024, followed by flooding in 2024 and again in 2025. Residents are left asking where federal disaster aid is and whether they even want to stay.
“Well, it’s slow. You know, there’s a long process on that,” Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said.
For those past disasters, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been approved for fire and flood recovery for public projects, although approval does not mean payment.
“We’ve sent them off months and months ago, and we have about 19 to 20 of those that have been obligated,” Crawford said, explaining that it means FEMA has approved the funding. That FEMA money will go towards public projects like roads and flood prevention; they are just waiting on one final federal sign-off.
“We’re just waiting on DHS to say yes so we can start spending that money getting the engineering done,” he said. “So when we get the email that says you’re good to go, then we’ll start going,” Crawford said.
For residents still waiting on FEMA funding, the answers are less clear.
“There’s not a great answer,” Crawford said, “I understand, and we’ve had a lot of folks that have invested their livelihood in businesses, in just a home that is gone, and your regular insurance doesn’t cover it. So what do you got? You got nothing,” Crawford added.
Crawford said city officials are continuing to work with FEMA but are also looking at other government programs, like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which just allocated $90 million.
“That $90 million of housing funding is dedicated for Lincoln and Chavez counties,” he said, “That is for those folks that were affected by the fire and the flood in 2024. So we’re getting a list of those people, we’re still probably three months out before we get to roll this program out,” Crawford said.
Now, with the recent ice storm, the city is preparing to apply for additional FEMA funding. Crawford said the city is documenting everything from overtime to storm damage to support new applications.
Some families are responding to the recent weather in their own way.
“All I can say is I live very happy. I have my kids with me, and you know we can’t… avoid destruction. It happens everywhere all over the world,” said Mary Blackman, a Ruidoso resident of 35 years.
“I mean, it’s a beautiful town. I love it here. The disasters that hit me in 2022…it was hard, but we survived it, and everybody else will,” she said.
