Eddie Gutierrez looked out the window of his brewery as the river turned into a raging torrent and swept away his neighbour's house.
Three people, including two children, were killed in Tuesday afternoon's floods in Ruidoso, New Mexico, and numerous properties were destroyed.
But the village was prepared, Mr Gutierrez said, with flood experts already on the ground and plans in place.
By next morning the sun was shining, and the town was "almost business as usual".
"It's a hard thing to see that and then the next day is almost completely normal, it's almost as if it didn't happen," he told the BBC.
