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Like many people in Ruidoso, Gary Garland does not have flood insurance. After floodwaters in the Rio Ruidoso rose to a record-breaking 20 feet this month, Garland鈥檚 two properties sustained 鈥渟erious鈥� damage, he said, totaling between $50,000 and $100,000. He plans to fix everything himself.

鈥淲e lost washers and dryers and refrigerators and ranges, all furniture, anything that was on the lower floor,鈥� Garland said.

Garland is among 96% of homeowners nationwide who aren鈥檛 insured for floods, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency . Flood coverage is not typically included in standard property plans, and can be costly, confusing or simply overlooked, experts say.

As extreme weather becomes more frequent across the planet, many homeowners are left to shoulder devastating losses on their own when floodwaters rise.

In Ruidoso, floods swept trees, parked cars and entire houses downstream and killed three people 鈥� a 64-year-old man and two children, a brother and sister, ages 7 and 4. Garland said he has never seen such torrential flooding in his 45 years living in the Sierra Blanca mountain town. On Thursday, the federal government the floods in Lincoln County a major disaster.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e all saying this one here was the big one,鈥� Garland said, 鈥渂ut with global warming, I don鈥檛 know that this is not going to be a regular occurrence.鈥�

In the span of just this month, rains and raging flash floods have torn across the East Coast, the Midwest and the Southwest, killing more than 140 people and destroying countless homes and businesses.

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing an increase in the prevalence of flash flooding across the United States. Really, across the world,鈥� said Jordan Suter, professor of agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University.

When the atmosphere grows warmer 鈥� like from climate change 鈥� the air can hold more moisture, which is deposited as heavier rainfall, Suter said.

Burn scars from June 2024 wildfires in Ruidoso mean the soil can鈥檛 absorb water as it normally would, causing rainwater to surge into rivers and streams, creating a flash flood, Suter said. Combine wildfires with heavier-than-normal precipitation, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 just a lethal mix.鈥�

Garland said Mountain States Insurance dropped him from his property insurance plan, which didn鈥檛 include flood insurance, last year after the fires. Now, Garland has property coverage through the state of New Mexico鈥檚 last-resort plan 鈥� which he says he鈥檚 grateful for 鈥� but which also doesn鈥檛 include policies for flood insurance.

The private flood insurance market is small because most companies will not insure properties in a high-risk flood zone, said Philip Mulder, assistant professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, leaving homeowners with a federal option 鈥� FEMA鈥檚 National Flood Insurance Program, which Garland says is expensive.

In Lincoln County, the median income is $10,625 less than the median income for the state.

鈥淰ery few people up here can afford flood insurance,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he prices are so high because insurance companies, they are there to make money.鈥�

The NFIP will write almost anyone a policy, but it has a coverage limit of $250,000 for a building, which may not be enough to rebuild a home, Mulder said. Premiums in an area with low flood risk could be around $400 to $600 annually, but in a high flood risk area, an NFIP plan could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 per year, he said. Ruidoso鈥檚 ZIP codes are considered 鈥渞elatively鈥� high risk for riverine flooding per the NFIP .

In Lincoln County, where Ruidoso is located, less than 2% of homes are insured through the NFIP, according to FEMA . In Ruidoso alone, 387 homes were damaged by this month鈥檚 flooding as of last Thursday, around a third of them destroyed, said Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford.

鈥淎 lot of people that we thought would have, should have had insurance, did not, because they said it was too expensive,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淎s far as flood insurance, it鈥檚 just difficult to get.鈥�

Most people in the rural county own their homes 鈥� about 8 out of every 10 households are owner-occupied, according to census .

For New Mexico families who have owned the same house for years 鈥� sometimes centuries 鈥� no mortgage means there鈥檚 no requirement from the bank to buy property or flood insurance, said Benito Ortiz, who owns Strategic Insurance Group in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, which sells both private and federal flood coverage.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you how many times I鈥檝e heard people tell me that they鈥檝e owned their houses for 50 years and they鈥檙e not going to be part of a wildfire, and a few years later, their house is gone,鈥� Ortiz said.

Despite many Ruidoso residents facing major property losses without insurance, they鈥檙e not confronting the crises completely by themselves. Garland said some men came up to Ruidoso from Alamogordo and cleaned out almost a foot of mud from his apartments with a vacuum truck, and another person with a tractor picked up all the dirt and sewage-covered furniture left outside.

鈥淲hat I will tell you is that our community is strong,鈥� Garland said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e resilient people. We will recover.鈥�