![]() ![]() Those areas are susceptible to flash flooding more so than those areas that haven’t been burned.”įires burn off plant matter that normally would hold soils in place during flooding events. “Downstream of those fire scars all that water is running off, some debris as well from the fire, and that can clog culverts. “You can think of it as concrete where the water is not being absorbed into the soils it’s all just running off,” Steffen said. Wildfire burn scars can create a flash flood runway that can last for years. In the following monsoon seasons, there was little rainfall, creating flash flooding problems in the area.Īrizona saw two massive wildfires devour the hillsides outside of Phoenix earlier this year, and eight large fires burning over 60,000 acres are currently active in the state. “The impacts are quite large when they occur in populated areas like Flagstaff.”įlagstaff been preparing for flash flooding events since the Museum fire north of the city in 2019 left a large burn scar. ![]() “These types of intense, local rain events happen each summer, but often in unpopulated areas,” said Michael Crimmins, climate science extension specialist for Arizona Cooperative Extension. Get ready for monsoon driving: #flagstaff #azsraffic /E0wsJ4ASxY- Arizona DOT July 14, 2021 That is our big concern every monsoon season,” Steffen said.įLASH floods occur suddenly, as you can see from this video courtesy of the City of Flagstaff taken Tuesday. “We had widespread heavy rainfall across the Flagstaff area on Wednesday that led to flash flooding and some closures of area roadways. Videos of cars floating down brown floodwater rapids surfaced Wednesday after the extreme flooding in Flagstaff. Urban areas with plentiful concrete and little drainage can easily experience flash flooding events when heavy rain falls in a brief period of time. “The moisture isn’t absorbed into the soil as much and all of that water is running off and that is what leads to the roadways and flooding of people’s properties,” National Weather Service Flagstaff meteorologist Tim Steffen said. The drought has ravaged the region for decades, leaving the soil less like a sponge and more like pavement. The flood injured four others who were hospitalized and in stable condition.Įxperts say the historic Western drought is to blame. More flash flooding may occur this weekend.Ī flash flood in Grand Canyon National Park killed Rebecca Copeland, 29, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the Tatahatso Camp on the Colorado River, the National Park Service said in a press release. “We’ve got some folks that are in their homes that had knee-deep, waist-deep water, that now the water has receded,” he said.ĬNN’s Nadia Romero, Steve Almasy and Aya Elamroussi contributed to this report.Monsoon rains brought extreme flash flooding to the Southwest this week, causing at least one death and scenes of vehicles bobbing down roads like rafts on rapids. Hundreds of homes are affected by the flooding in some form, Davis said. These are people’s families that we know. ![]() “You have to remember: These are people we know. “You’ve seen us get a little emotional through some of this,” Davis said Tuesday through tears. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis took a helicopter ride this week to survey the destruction and became tearful when he described what he saw. Up to 15 inches of rain had fallen in the area over a six-hour period, officials said. He said the current took him around a bend to another building, where he climbed onto a roof and remained there four hours until he was rescued – but his mother did not make it, he said. “And I came out over here, and I looked around, I screamed for my mom a couple times. ![]() “And I was probably under, I don’t know, thirty to forty five seconds. “We hit the corner of the house, and as I hit it, it dragged both of us under,” Almond told CNN. The rushing water carried them into another dislodged house, which had come to rest against a gas station. More than 270 homes were destroyed in central Tennessee as flash flooding killed 18, officials say ![]()
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