A man and two kids died in New Mexico after a flash flood wiped a house off the map.

The tragic flood struck Tuesday around the mountain hamlet of Rudiso as torrential monsoon rains pounded an area already reeling from burn scars from recent wildfires.

The three victims — a 4-year-old girl, a 7-year-old boy and an unidentified man who was approximately 40-50 years old — were swept downstream along with their entire house as the waters of the Rio Ruidoso rose nearly 19 feet in a matter of minutes, officials said.

The children were related, Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said during a Wednesday news conference. It was unclear if the man was the children’s father.

Crews rescued 85 other people in the Ruidoso area as the raging waters trapped people in their homes and cars, said Danielle Silva of the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

When the waters finally receded Tuesday night, they left roadways covered in debris and cars half-buried in mud.

Two National Guard rescue teams and several local teams already were in the area when the flooding began, Silva said, and more Guard teams were expected.

The floods came just days after apocalyptic floods in Texas killed over 100 people and left more than 160 missing.

A weather service flood gauge and companion video camera showed churning waters of the Rio Ruidoso surge over the river’s banks into the surrounding forest. Streets and bridges were closed in response.

Kaitlyn Carpenter, an artist in Ruidoso, was riding her motorcycle through town Tuesday afternoon when the storm started to pick up, and she sought shelter at the riverside Downshift Brewing Company with about 50 other people. She started to film debris rushing down the Rio Ruidoso when she spotted a house floating by with a familiar turquoise door. It belonged to the family of one of her best friends.

Her friend’s family was not in the house and is safe, she said.

“I’ve been in that house and have memories in that house, so seeing it come down the river was just pretty heartbreaking,” Carpenter said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”

During a radio address Tuesday night, the mayor encouraged residents to call an emergency line if their loved ones or neighbors were missing. He also said there were reports of dead horses near the town’s horse racing track.

“We knew that we were going to have floods … and this one hit us harder than what we were expecting,” Crawford said.

The area has been especially vulnerable to flooding since the summer of 2024, when the South Fork and Salt fires raced across tinder-dry forest and destroyed an estimated 1,400 homes and structures. Residents were forced to flee a wall of flames, only to grapple with intense flooding later that summer.

“We know that the water levels seemed to be higher than they were last summer,” Silva said. “It is a significant amount of water flowing throughout, some of it in new areas that didn’t flood last year.”

Matt DeMaria, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said storms formed in the early afternoon over terrain that was scorched last year by wildfire. The burn scar was unable to absorb a lot of the rain, as water quickly ran downhill into the river.

Preliminary measurements show the Rio Ruidoso crested at more than 20 feet (6 meters) — a record high if confirmed — and was receding Tuesday evening.

Three shelters opened in the Ruidoso area for people who could not return home.

Cory State, who works at the Downshift Brewing Company, welcomed in dozens of residents as the river surged and hail pelted the windows. The house floating by was “just one of the many devastating things about today,” he said. 

With Post wires.