The National Weather Service posted flood watches for nearly all of Arizona and parts of four other states, warning that up to 4 inches of rain could fall on saturated ground from Saturday evening through Monday.
The watches stretch into southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, western New Mexico and part of southern Nevada. They include the sparsely populated Four Corners region, which recent rains have hit especially hard. A run of weather systems has already made this a deadly autumn in the region.
Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, said the weekend rain could produce both flash floods and small-stream flooding.
It’s not going to take much rainfall to be impactful at all in some of these locations just because of how saturated they are
Allison Santorelli, Weather Prediction Center meteorologist
A deadly wash in Nevada
Floodwater had already turned fatal on Friday in Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas. A person pulled from a wash during one of three swift-water rescues went into cardiac arrest and died at a hospital, a city spokesperson said.
The other two Henderson rescues saved one person from the top of a stranded vehicle and two people whose vehicle had been swept off the road.
Rescues across Arizona
Phoenix firefighters reported rescuing people from four vehicles on flooded streets Friday night. In nearby Scottsdale, crews were helping one person when a second vehicle carrying two people entered the same water and also needed rescue.
Scottsdale fire Capt. Dave Folio said those vehicles were in 3 to 4 feet of water and warned that as little as 2 inches can sweep a vehicle off its wheels.
In western Arizona, Bullhead City said Friday's downpour left water, rocks and debris on streets citywide and closed parks.
