Colorado town braces for historic flooding as heavy rain hits Southwest | Weather in the United States

Heavy rain caused flash flooding and mandatory evacuations across part of the Southwest on Sunday, including a Colorado tourist town bracing for its main river to reach historic levels, as weary residents of the normally arid region face more flooding.

Officials in Pagosa Springs, a Rocky Mountain town of more than 2,000 near ski resorts and known for its hot springs, warned of potential “catastrophic flooding” as the San Juan River was expected to crest more than 20 feet (6.1 meters) Sunday evening.

“To put the forecast in perspective, during the devastating flood of 1911 that wiped out most of what existed at the time as the town of Pagosa, the San Juan River crested at approximately 17.8 feet,” the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “This is a potentially catastrophic flood. »

By sunset Sunday, the river crest had reached about 14 feet, according to Vicky Schaffer, a county spokeswoman. Roads in and out of the city were closed and residents who were not under evacuation orders were asked to stay home.

Communities in northern New Mexico and central Arizona also ordered mandatory evacuations while rains forced the closure of several highways.

In the picturesque town of Sedona, Arizona, authorities ordered residents near Oak Creek to leave immediately as floodwaters trapped several people in their homes.

Arizona expects months of rain in just days

Neighboring Yavapai County and the community of Camp Verde issued similar evacuation orders for residents living near swollen rivers and streams.

More than 100 miles southeast of Sedona, Gila County authorities ordered a total evacuation of Gisela, a community of several hundred residents along Tonto Creek. Wet conditions even caused flash floods, river flooding and rapid boat rescues in Tucson, about 230 miles south of Sedona.

“We’re getting two or three months of rain in the span of a few days,” said Aaron Hardin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson.

Rain fell almost non-stop Sunday in Flagstaff, Arizona, flooding local roads and overwhelming storm drains. Authorities were searching for a man who slipped and fell into fast-moving floodwaters “and was not seen resurfacing,” according to a police statement Sunday evening.

The latest round of heavy rain began Saturday evening and is expected to saturate the region through Monday. The weather service estimates that up to 4 inches of rain could fall in the region, fueled by a series of storm systems in the Pacific.

The weather service has issued flood warnings and watches for almost all of Arizona and parts of southern Utah, southwest Colorado and western New Mexico, in addition to part of southern Nevada. This includes the sparsely populated Four Corners region, where the states meet.