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.

Two children from El Paso are among three people who died in raging flash floods that struck the mountain forest resort town of Ruidoso, New Mexico, the town's mayor said.

Two young children of a U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Bliss were among the three people killed in a record-breaking flash flood that swept through a village in New Mexico on Tuesday, local officials said.