Heavy rainfall triggered flash flooding and mandatory evacuations across swaths of the Southwest on Sunday, including a Colorado tourist town where main river levels were set to reach record highs as exhausted residents in the normally dry region braced for another downpour.
Officials in Pagosa Springs, a Rocky Mountain town of more than 2,000 people near ski resorts and known for its hot springs, warned that the San Juan River was expected to reach more than 20 feet (6.1 meters) late Sunday night, potentially causing “catastrophic flooding.”
“Projections indicate that the devastating 1911 flood that destroyed much of the then-town of Pagosa brought the San Juan River to approximately 17.8 feet (5.4 meters),” the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “This was a potentially catastrophic flood event.”
County spokesperson Vicky Schaffer said the river peaked at about 14 feet (4.2 meters) by sunset Sunday. Roads in and out of the town were closed and residents who were not under evacuation orders were urged to stay home.
Meanwhile, mandatory evacuation orders were issued for communities in northern New Mexico and central Arizona, and rain forced the closure of several highways.
Read more: Will El Niño make storms and flash floods in the Southwest more severe?
In the picturesque Arizona town of Sedona, officials ordered residents near Oak Creek to leave immediately as flooding trapped many people in their homes.
Arizona expected to see months of rain in days
This aerial photo provided by Sky Yazzie shows flooding in Flagstaff, Arizona on Sunday. Photo: Sky Yazzie, Associated Press
The nearby communities of Yavapai County and Cape Verde issued similar evacuation orders for residents living near rivers and creeks with rising water levels.
More than 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Sedona, Gila County officials ordered a complete evacuation of Gisela, a community of several hundred residents along Tonto Creek. The wet weather caused flash flooding, swollen rivers and fast boat rescues even in Tucson, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of Sedona.
“You’re going to have two or three months’ worth of rain in a matter of days,” said Aaron Hardin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson.
Nearly non-stop rain fell in Flagstaff, Arizona on Sunday, flooding local roads and flooding storm drains. Authorities are searching for a man who slipped and fell into fast-moving floodwaters and “was not seen to resurface,” according to a police statement late Sunday.
Outside the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, people filled plastic bags with sand to prevent further flooding inside the church. Luke Wilson said water got into the garage, basement, under the church building and in the office where the computers were located. “The pump is pumping water, but it’s not pumping water fast enough,” he said.
In the Southeast, in the Pinetop Lakefront area of central Arizona, “manhole covers were everywhere” and residents reported sewage backing up into their homes due to flooding, the area’s health department said in a statement.
The latest round of heavy rain started on Saturday night and is expected to cover the area by Monday. The weather service estimated that as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain could fall across the region, driven by a series of Pacific storm systems.
In addition to parts of southern Nevada, the weather service issued flood warnings and watches for nearly all of Arizona, parts of southern Utah, southwestern Colorado and western New Mexico. That includes the sparsely populated Four Corners region, where the states meet.
The weather service office in Salt Lake City said previous storms had flooded places such as Zion and Capitol Reef national parks and warned that flooding could intensify and “roads in remote areas may become impassable due to excessive runoff.”
Road closed to Colorado tourist town
Officials in Pagosa Springs said anyone in low-lying areas along the San Juan, Rio Blanco, Navajo and Piedra rivers should go to designated shelters at local churches.
They advise residents not to wait to leave their homes because emergency personnel may be very limited during the worst of the storm. The highway into town was also closed to inbound traffic, and residents were advised to avoid contact with the San Juan River after sewage was discharged into it.
Katie German, owner and chef of Bruin Coffee in Pagosa Springs, said downtown was evacuated and streets were flooded. Germaine said her biggest concern was that a bridge leading into the town had been washed away, making it inaccessible to trucks carrying everything from food to fuel.
Town officials lifted flood evacuation orders last week and reimposed them Saturday, with San Juan floods expected to peak at 21.9 feet (6.7 meters) on Sunday night.
“I’m worried about my business, I’m worried about my employees and certainly everyone in town,” Germaine said.
Officials in La Plata County, west of Pagosa Springs, said all public roads were closed due to flooding.
Evacuations were also ordered in nearby Durango, Colorado, where water levels in the Animas River were rising rapidly.
Sedona officials rescue residents trapped in home
A pedestrian walks across a flooded road in Flagstaff, Arizona, on Sunday. Photo by Felicia Fonseca/AP
In Sedona, longtime resident Michelle Grimm worried for her community after she saw the fast-flowing waters of Oak Creek rising dangerously to the base of a pedestrian bridge near downtown.
“I went out at 8 o’clock this morning and I saw the bridge and I thought, ‘Oh, we’re in trouble,'” she said Sunday while sheltering in her home.
“I’ve never seen them use helicopters to rescue people from communities,” Green said.
A video shared by the Sedona Fire Department showed powerful floodwaters swamping vehicles and rushing through homes and other buildings. Other videos and photos shared on social media showed people taking photos and videos standing on the pedestrian bridge with churning brown water below.
By Sunday afternoon, the downpours in the Sedona area had largely subsided.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said state air rescue crews were assisting with roof evacuations and state transportation crews were helping clear the wreckage.
Yavapai County spokesman David McAtee said there have been no reports of injuries so far and residents of nearly 20 homes need emergency assistance to relocate.
Marcelo reported from New York; Casey from Boston; and Webber from Los Angeles.
A free press is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
Support trustworthy journalism and civil dialogue.