NWS warns of flash flooding risk in Southwest as new rains hit saturated ground
Up to four inches of rain expected through Monday could trigger severe flooding in Arizona, Nevada, and neighboring states after a deadly autumn of storms.
By Elena Vargas ·
The National Weather Service issued flood watches for nearly all of Arizona on Saturday evening, warning that incoming rains pose a high risk of flash flooding in already saturated areas.
Meteorologists expect up to 4 inches of rain to fall across the region through Monday. The soil in the Southwest is already waterlogged from a series of weather systems earlier in the autumn, making the ground particularly vulnerable to new precipitation.
Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, noted that the saturated conditions mean even light rainfall can cause damage. She stated that it would not take much water to be impactful in specific locations due to the current state of the ground.
The flood watches cover parts of southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, western New Mexico, and southern Nevada. The Four Corners region, where these four states meet, is included in the alert area. That sparsely populated region has faced especially hard hits from recent storms.
Rescuers had to act quickly before the new system arrived. In Henderson, Nevada, crews performed three swift-water rescues on Friday afternoon during a downpour. One person was pulled from the roof of a stuck vehicle, and two others were saved from a car swept off the road. A fourth individual was rescued from a wash but later died at a hospital after going into cardiac arrest.
In the Phoenix area, the Fire Department reported pulling people from four vehicles on flooded streets on Friday night. In nearby Scottsdale, a fire captain described rescuing a person from one car when another vehicle with two occupants entered the same water and needed assistance. Scottsdale Fire Capt. Dave Folio said in a video that 2 inches of water can sweep a vehicle off its wheels, noting the cars were in 3 to 4 feet of water.
Heavy rains on Friday also affected Bullhead City in western Arizona. The city reported that water, rocks, and debris covered streets and forced parks to close.
Source: WSVN
