RUIDOSO, N.M.—Entering Stephanie Sheffield’s two-story home by the Rio Ruidoso in the village of Ruidoso, New Mexico, feels like stepping into the aftermath of a cyclone.
Furniture, clothing, appliances, and other personal belongings are strewn about and overturned as if nature had ransacked the house without mercy.
No matter where you walk, there is foul-smelling muck all around—two inches deep in some spots.
From the dining room to the family room and her teenage grandson’s bedroom, it vividly illustrates the fury and power of flooding during the monsoon season in southern New Mexico.
“We got flooded last year, but it only stayed in here,” said Sheffield, 58, standing in the entrance to her rental home….