Deadly monsoon flooding strikes Arizona
Three people were killed on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico as Monsoon rains caused problems across the Four Corners region.
Video from Arizona shows heavy rain and flash flooding as storms swept through the region on Sept. 16.
Intense, widespread monsoon flooding in the Four Corners region turned deadly on Wednesday when three people were killed on the Navajo Nation near Newcomb, New Mexico.
Dangerous flooding has swept across the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah in recent days.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren thanked first responders for working overnight in dangerous conditions and offered his condolences, NBC reported.
In Maricopa County, Arizona, the Sheriff's Office shared a video on social media showing a helicopter rescuing two people from a car that was taking on floodwaters on State Route 238.
A Maricopa County Sheriff’s helicopter swooped in to rescue two people in their 80s who were stranded in their car during flooding on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The pair were stuck inside the car along a flooded stretch of State Route 238, west of Maricopa. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)
"The heavy rain that led to flooding across the Southwest yesterday was the result of a strong push of monsoonal moisture over the region, originating from the tropical Pacific and the Gulf," AccuWeather Meteorologist Kai Kerkow said.
The northern and eastern suburbs of Phoenix received multiple inches of rain, causing flooding and prompting water rescues, Kerkow noted.
The National Weather Service issued 68 flood warnings between Wednesday and Thursday morning, 33 of which posed a "considerable" threat.
A radar animation showing heavy rain and storms in the Four Corners region from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning.
The flooding threat will expand northward Thursday into Friday, but the greatest flood risk will remain across portions of Colorado and New Mexico, with flash flooding remaining a concern and debris flows especially possible in burn scar areas. Up to a foot of rain could be recorded in some spots through Thursday night.
The threat of heavy rain will decrease this weekend as monsoonal moisture is pushed out of the Desert Southwest, but isolated afternoon thunderstorms will continue, mostly over higher terrain, Kerkow said.
The deaths come less than three weeks after at least two hikers were killed by flooding at the Grand Canyon.
