Southwest Floods Sweep Away Homes in Arboles, Colorado; Hundreds Evacuated, At Least One Dead

Since the latest round of heavy rain began Saturday evening, Oct. 31, flooding across the Four Corners region has moved from evacuation orders to physical destruction. Aerial images from Monday, Nov. 2, showed roads, neighborhoods and fields underwater across the Southwest.

Homes and vehicles swept away

In Arboles, Colorado, floodwater carried away cars, motorhomes and homes. In Camp Verde, Arizona, residents scrambled to safety as water rose around an RV park.

Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate. Rescue teams carried out dozens of operations, including helicopter rescues.

At least one person died. Police suspect a second death was linked to the flooding. Neither the identity of the victims nor the locations were detailed in the latest accounts.

On Sunday evening, Flagstaff police said they were searching for a man who slipped and fell into fast-moving floodwater "and was not seen resurfacing." No later update on that search has been published.

Pagosa Springs and the San Juan River

Before the weekend crest, the Archuleta County Sheriff's Office warned of a "potentially catastrophic flood event" in Pagosa Springs. Forecasts for the San Juan River ran from more than 19 feet to as high as 21.9 feet. The 1911 flood, which wiped out most of the original town, crested at about 17.8 feet, the sheriff's office said.

By sundown Sunday the river had reached about 14 feet, county spokesperson Vicky Schaffer said. Roads in and out of town were closed.

The San Juan has since reached 16.81 feet (5.1 meters), flooded parts of a town and then begun to fall. That is below the forecast range and below the 1911 mark.

Officials told residents in low-lying areas along the San Juan, Rio Blanco, Navajo and Piedra rivers to move to a designated shelter at a local church. They warned that emergency crews could be extremely limited at the height of the storm.

Cleanup starts in Durango

In Durango, Colorado, about 200 residents joined cleanup efforts on Monday, clearing mud and debris from homes and streets.

The cleanup is the first sign of recovery after a weekend of mandatory evacuations in Sedona, Camp Verde, Gisela and communities in northern New Mexico. Several highways in Arizona and New Mexico were closed during the storm.

Why the water kept coming

The National Weather Service said the latest round would bring flash flooding to already saturated ground through Monday, with as much as 4 inches of rain in places. Forecasters tied it to a series of Pacific storm systems. Flood watches covered nearly all of Arizona and parts of southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, western New Mexico and southern Nevada.

"We are getting two or three months of rain in a span of a couple of days," said Aaron Hardin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson. The rain caused flash floods, river flooding and swift boat rescues in Tucson, some 230 miles south of Sedona.

One report linked the rainfall to Tropical Storm Rachel. Flooding in the region also followed earlier damage in Utah. A Fox News video dated Oct. 23 showed more than 100 homes and RVs destroyed or damaged in Hurricane, Utah, a gateway community to Zion National Park.

A drought-region reservoir upside

The heavy rainfall also brought some relief to reservoirs in a region enduring a prolonged drought. That relief is small comfort in places like Arboles, where the water arrived faster than the ground or the storm drains could take it.

At Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Flagstaff, volunteers filled sandbags as water reached the garage, the basement and an office. "The pumps are pumping, but they're not pumping fast enough," Luke Willson said. In the Pinetop-Lakeside area, residents reported manhole covers popping up and sewage backing into homes.

What remains open

Officials have not released a full count of destroyed homes in Arboles or a final death toll. The status of the missing man in Flagstaff has not been announced. Police have not confirmed the suspected second death as flood-related, and none of the affected counties has released a damage estimate.

Rivers across the region remain high after days of soaking rain, and the weather service has said continued rainfall could make roads in remote areas impassable.