LOS ALAMOS INFRASTRUCTURE DAMAGED AFTER RECORD RAINS

Los Alamos National Laboratory suffered flooding and storm damage to infrastructure and monitoring stations after record rainfall inundated the site earlier this month. “We experienced an epic event,” Dave McInroy, the laboratory’s program director for environmental corrective actions, said in a statement. “We received more than 7-and-a-half inches of rain in a four-day period and more than an inch-and-a-half in one hour on Sept. 13th. None of our recorded history has shown anything like this.” Flooding largely impacted the canyons, damaging 75 percent of the canyon access roads, monitoring wells and numerous stormwater samplers.  

The extent of the damage is still being tallied. However, of three damaged monitoring stations supporting Santa Fe’s water utility, two have been returned to service. Lab grade control structures across canyon bottoms also helped minimize damage by trapping sediment and reducing the force of water.