TWO DEAD, ONE MISSING AFTER N. M. FLOODING

Two women were killed and another person was missing in New Mexico after flash floods swept through an area that had been burned by the state’s largest recorded wildfire, officials said Friday.

First responders found the bodies Thursday afternoon in a creek, along with a capsized vehicle, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement late Friday. The flash flooding occurred in an area east of Santa Fe where the wildfire has burned through hundreds of thousands of acres in recent months.

The New Mexico State Police and other agencies were still searching Friday for the missing person, who they believe is a man, the statement said. The victims’ identities were not disclosed.

The State Police referred questions Friday night to the sheriff’s office, which could not be reached for comment.

Heavy rain continued to fall across the burned area Friday, state officials said in a news release. In some places, more than 1 inch of water fell in less than an hour.

A “surge of monsoon moisture” is expected across much of New Mexico today, and there will be an increased risk of flash flooding through the middle of next week, the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque said on its Facebook page. It warned that burn scars caused by wildfires would be “especially susceptible to runoff, flash flooding and debris flow.”

Wildfires make it easier for even short bursts of heavy rain to cause flooding, because they destroy vegetation and make soil less permeable.

The blaze east of Santa Fe, known as the Calf Canyon/ Hermit’s Peak fire, has burned more than 341,000 acres, an area larger than the city of Los Angeles. It was 93% contained as of Friday.

The fire is a merger of two smaller ones that started as prescribed burns set by the government.

They grew out of control in April, fueled by high winds, and eventually became one of the U. S. Forest Service’s most destructive mistakes in decades.