RUIDOSO DOWNS

Ruidoso’s Upper Canyon once had a playful log bridge that let kids bounce on the planks. Randall Hamilton remembers jumping on it as a child in the 1960s. By 2008, Hurricane Dolly had turned that bridge into splintered debris, along with eight others nearby. A quick fix—concrete pipes—kept traffic m

Ruidoso, New Mexico, is no stranger to disasters. Just a year after battling wildfires, the village faced another tragedy: flash floods that claimed three lives, including two young children. The heavy rains turned the Rio Ruidoso river into a raging torrent, reaching a record height of 20 feet in m