Heavy rains fall across eastern New Mexico

Curry and Roosevelt counties welcomed heavy rainfall Thursday night with some individuals reporting 3 to 4 inches in their home rain gauges.

The moisture also brought cooler temperatures expected to continue through the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Officially, Portales received 2.4 inches of rain between 7 a.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday, said Carter Greulich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

Clovis received 1.58 inches of rain between 10 a.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday, Greulich said.

Brief power outages were reported around the region and some streets were temporarily flooded. But Greulich said flash flooding in Quay and Chaves counties highlighted the weather night.

“I expected calls (Thursday) night, but I didn’t get any. We have those places in town that do like to flood, but nothing major happened,” said Clovis-Curry County Emergency Management Director Ruthann Kelly.

Portales City Manager Chris Moyer said he received no reports of weather-related incidents either. “I’m happy about (the rain) though,” Moyer said Friday.

Kelly said a cold front came through from the northwest.

“It combined with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and brought us rain,” Kelly said.

After record-setting heat during much of August, forecasters expect the first week of September will see high temperatures in the mid-70s and mid-80s with a chance of rain most days.