Wire reporting: (AP, via Local 10)

Flash flooding on Sunday led officials in Sedona, Arizona, and Pagosa Springs, Colorado, to order people out of low-lying areas as Pacific rain fell on already wet ground, according to The Associated Press (AP, via KSAT).

Sedona officials told residents near Oak Creek to leave at once and gather at Sedona Red Rock High School, saying water was rising quickly and that some people were trapped in homes, AP reported. Camp Verde issued a similar order for areas along the Verde River, West Clear Creek and Wet Beaver Creek. Sedona Fire District Chief Ed Mezulis said neighboring crews were coming to help, according to the same AP account.

In Pagosa Springs, town officials warned of a possible severe flood as the San Juan River was forecast to crest above 19 feet around 11 p.m. Sunday, AP reported. The Archuleta County Sheriff's Office, in a Facebook post cited by AP, compared that with a 1911 crest of about 17.8 feet and said extensive damage was expected. Residents along the San Juan, Rio Blanco, Navajo and Piedra rivers were told to go to a church shelter, and inbound highway traffic was to be closed Sunday afternoon.

The National Weather Service, as cited by AP, estimated up to about 4 inches of rain through Monday and had flood watches over nearly all of Arizona and parts of southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, western New Mexico and southern Nevada. Aaron Hardin of the NWS office in Tucson said the region was seeing two or three months of rain in a few days, with flash floods and boat rescues in Tucson, AP reported. How high rivers actually crested, and how many people remained trapped, was not independently confirmed beyond the AP dispatch.

Sources

1. (AP, via Local 10)Flash floods trigger evacuations in Arizona and Colorado amid heavy rains in southwest5:22 PM

Read the original at Local 10 ↗