DHS secretary Kristi Noem tours Ruidoso flooding damage
RUIDOSO, N.M. – Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, visited Ruidoso Tuesday to assess the damage from July’s deadly flooding, and met with village leaders. But, no one has shared what help could come from that meeting.
KOB 4 was there for the secretary’s visit, but did not get an opportunity to ask questions or even talk to her. During the tour, Noem received a briefing from village leaders and her team told us it was up to Noem to talk to media afterward, but she left.
This all comes as many in the village are left wondering about financial assistance from the federal disaster declaration to help their recovery.
Noem’s tour of the damage lasted about 20 minutes. Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford joined her, along with officials from our state Department of Homeland Security and New Mexico’s Emergency Management director.
We could see them pointing out issues like how high the water rose in the river Ruidoso back on July 8 when two children drowned in the flooding. That was all we could observe since we had to stay about 30 feet away, and could not put a microphone on anyone in the tour.
Our cameras did catch some of the conversation, like when Noem asked how they’ve been able to clean up certain areas.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem: “How do you desilt that?”
Mayor Lynn Crawford: “We come in from the sides and pull it up and out, and then we haul it out. And we’ve got several dump grounds EPA.”
Noem: “That are full?”
Crawford: “That are full and that’s becoming a whole other issue.”
After the July 8 flooding, homes were destroyed with pieces on opposite ends of neighborhoods.
Noem’s visit was certainly met with some criticism. A toy skeleton was left by River Side RV Park with a sign saying, “Still waiting on FEMA.”
We also went out to one of the hardest hit areas, Riverview RV Park. The owners of the RV park say they were surprised Noem didn’t stop by, or any village leadership for that matter.
That RV park is where three people lost their lives: Sebastian and Charlotte Trotter, and Benjamin “Timmy” Faegin.
“She didn’t come by all day, waiting. Been here since eight o’clock this morning. We’ve been standing up by the road, and we could see her down the road at Twin. We walked down there, and we got stopped by Secret Service,” said Lindsey and Jason Fulcher, owners of Riverview RV Park. “Unseen, unheard. It makes me sad for the Trotters. It makes me sad for us. It makes me sad for Timmy’s family, that maybe we’re just not important enough.”
After the tour, Noem, Crawford and Rye went into a closed door meeting for an hour.
Crawford was also not available for an on camera interview with any media outlets Tuesday. But, in the last half hour, we received this statement:
“I would like to personally thank Secretary Noem for coming to visit the Village of Ruidoso to see what we are dealing with first hand. It’s nice to have someone from the federal level have such a great grasp on what is going to be needed to start rebuilding. Secretary Noem understands the bureaucratic red tape and what it is going to take to move forward. Secretary Noem recognizes the cascading events that continue to happen and the mitigation efforts that are going to be needed for the Forest Service lands, the Village of Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs and down into the Hondo Valley. Secretary Noem is very result oriented and we look forward to seeing the outcome of her visit.”
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/dhs-secretary-kristi-noem-tours-ruidoso-flooding-damage/