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Tropical Storm Priscilla Threatens Southwest with Dangerous Flash Floods
• Ecology, Health, Tropical Storm Priscilla, flash floods, rain, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, National Weather Service, flood warnings, weather risk, Havasupai Tribe, fluxdaily.news, Tropical Storm Priscilla Threatens Southwest with Dangerous Flash Floods
As remnants of Tropical Storm Priscilla move into the Southwest, states like Arizona and Colorado brace for severe rain and flash flood risks, raising concerns for residents and outdoor enthusiasts.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A region more accustomed to baking heat than soggy weather is about to get soaked, raising the risk of flash floods that can surprise — and kill — in minutes.
Downgraded from a powerful hurricane, Tropical Storm Priscilla has lost its punch in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. But the storm still carries plenty of moisture and is now bearing down on the southwestern U.S., where flood warnings already were posted Thursday.
Forecasters expected rain bands from Priscilla’s remnants to saturate areas of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado through this weekend, bringing as much moisture in hours as some of those places might get all year.
Recent deadly flooding in Texas and New Mexico speaks to what can go badly with rain like that.
“We don’t want to see people caught up in the hazards we are going to be seeing,” said meteorologist Robert Rickey with the National Weather Service in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Arizona will be hit hardest
Northern Arizona is most at risk, with 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 centimeters) of rain likely in and around Flagstaff, the national park gateway city south of the Grand Canyon.
Some areas could get even more, said Rickey, but where exactly that will happen is impossible to predict very long in advance.
High-elevation Flagstaff gets ample rain, upward of 2 feet (60 centimeters) a year, though not often in such big doses. Southwestern and northeastern Arizona see far less, in some places as little as 5 inches (13 centimeters) or less a year; Phoenix gets just 7 or 8 inches (18 to 20 centimeters) a year.
In such deserts, downpours on paved, urban landscapes with minimal drainage infrastructure and in backcountry areas mazed with canyons can become deadly fast.
After heat, flooding is the deadliest weather phenomenon in the U.S., killing 145 people in 2024. Many victims were in their cars, braving high water that can be deceptively dangerous.
In Arizona, a “stupid motorist law” allows drivers to be billed up to $2,000 if they drive around a barricade or warning sign into a flooded area and have to be rescued.
Strong storms already were moving north across Arizona and southern Utah, bringing up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain in places. Scattered flash flood warnings were posted along the state line, including for Lake Powell and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
Much of the Southwest’s rain comes during the summer monsoon season from mid-June through September. Rain from autumn tropical systems like this one might happen once a year, said Rickey.
As officials prepare for potential flooding, residents are urged to take precautions, monitor conditions and avoid risky outdoor activities during the rainfall.