County officials are asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to install a gate on the Rocky Dam to reduce the chances of another major flood in the area as happened most recently around Memorial Day weekend 2021.

The Chaves County Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve a resolution requesting the gate, indicating in the document that the 2021 flooding resulted in “undue human suffering and hardship.”

From May 28 to June 1, Chaves County and its municipalities — Roswell, Dexter, Hagerman and Lake Arthur — experienced what has been called a “100-year rain event,” which for this area of New Mexico is considered 5 inches of precipitation within 24 hours. According to the National Weather Service, rain began in the Roswell area on May 28, with the area receiving 5.05 inches of rain from then until May 30. The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network had reports of an additional 1.02 inches of rain in the county on June 1.

Although no deaths in the county were recorded as a result of the storm, residents and businesses reported destroyed and damaged homes, buildings, schools and agricultural equipment and businesses, as well as the loss of pets, farm animals and livestock.

The city of Roswell and Chaves County received emergency funding of $750,000 each from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in early June to help cover damages to public buildings and infrastructure and for other flood recovery efforts.

Chaves County Flood Commission officials have said that the flooding in south Roswell and Midway happened after the breach of a Hondo River flood diversion levee west of Roswell. And both city and county officials have said that the diversion breach was caused in large part because Rocky Dam is ungated, allowing the water from the dam to pour into the Rio Hondo as well as the Rocky Arroyo stream.

The Rocky Dam is part of the Twin Rivers Dam maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that is about 14 miles southwest of Roswell. The other dam, the Diamond A Dam, has a gate that was used during the 2021 storm to retain water.

Because Rocky Dam was ungated, heavy rainwaters “flowed unchecked until the dam was drained. This ultimately overpowered the drainage channel and caused the failure of the Hondo River Diversion Levee #3,” the county resolution states.

The resolution also indicates that Chaves County Flood Commission officials have been asking the Corps of Engineers for a gate since at least 2006, including in a letter written in April 2007.

City and county officials also met with the Corps of the Engineers when the 2021 flooding began, with city officials asking if the Army group could install some type of temporary barriers on Rocky Dam.

Tim Jennings, the current Chaves County flood commissioner, gave commissioners an update on some of the commission’s efforts, including with the levee diversion. The breach in the berm was repaired in the days following the flood, and work continues to widen it by 12 feet and deepen it by 4 feet.

“From the topography that is out there, it is still possible to have a rain and still flood parts of Roswell. This does not alleviate all the problem,” Jennings said.

He said that he appreciated the county resolution in support of the Rocky Dam gate and that he has spoken with a person in Roswell who works with the Corps of Engineers who assured him that he was wiling to ask about a gate and the possibility of securing federal funds for it.

Another possibility, Jennings said, would be to build another dam to divert water toward the Felix River. He estimated the cost at $12 million or more.

A Corps of Engineers spokesperson did not respond by press time to a request for information. According to one of the group’s websites, the Twin River Dam was finished in August 1963 and authorized in 1954 following a “disastrous” flood in the area in 1941. Other major floods prior to the dam completion occurred in 1937 and 1954.

Lisa Dunlap can be reached at 575-622-7710, ext. 351, or at [email protected].