The two children were identified as Charlotte Trotter, 4, and Sebastian Trotter, 7, according to their aunt Tiffanie Wyatt. She said their father, Sebastian Trotter, a solder based at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and their mother, Stephanie, both suffered serious injuries but survived and were receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Texas.

Stephanie Hopkins, a Whitehall High School graduate, lost her two young children, 7-year-old Sebastian and 4-year-old Charlotte, during a flash flood in Ruidoso, New Mexico Tuesday.

The children, ages four and seven, were swept downstream by a flash flood after the Rio Ruidoso river rose to a record-setting 20 feet.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood emergency for Ruidoso on Tuesday, warning of rapidly deteriorating conditions and rising river levels

Severe thunderstorms will head east by Saturday, impacting eastern Michigan and parts of northern Indiana. One to two inches of rain is possible as the system tracks east, but some areas could see isolated amounts of three to five inches through the weekend.

The village of Ruidoso is located in the southern part of New Mexico and is a noted vacation spot boasting camping and recreation amid its expansive forest landscape. World Population Review notes the village rose to a total of 7,600 in 2025. That was a decrease of the population by less than 1% in recent years.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez and the state’s Department of Justice are warning Ruidoso residents who were affected by the flash floods about potential

A second prominent attorney has pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge in paying off an Albuquerque police officer in 2023 to help get a client’s drunken driving case dismissed. PLUS, at least 200 homes were damaged during a deadly flash flood in the mountain village of Ruidoso,