Daijiworld Media Network - New Mexico
New Mexico, Oct 24: Severe flooding across the Four Corners region of the United States has triggered emergency rescues, forced evacuations and rendered several roads impassable, with authorities warning that more floodwaters could arrive over the weekend.
The affected region, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet, has experienced two months of heavy rainfall that ended a prolonged summer drought. Since Wednesday, around four inches of rain had fallen on already saturated ground, with further showers forecast.
In Farmington, New Mexico, hundreds of residents living along the San Juan River were instructed to evacuate. Around 600 households in the city were told to leave their homes as authorities warned of rising water levels. Residents in parts of the Navajo Nation downstream were also preparing for floodwaters expected to peak late Friday or early Saturday.
Navajo Nation Deputy Police Chief Donnie Kee urged residents to prepare for evacuation, stressing the importance of protecting families and animals before conditions deteriorated further.
Emergency responders deployed New Mexico National Guard boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles to rescue stranded residents on Thursday night and Friday. San Juan County spokesperson Devin Neeley said rescuers were pulling people from rooftops and homes submerged under three to four feet of water, with more flooding expected.
Although rainfall temporarily eased, rivers continued to rise. Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe warned that additional water was moving downstream through the Animas River, a tributary of the San Juan River that flows south from Colorado.
Hebbe described the situation as a once-in-a-generation event, urging residents not to underestimate the approaching floodwaters.
The flooding followed a week of severe weather across the Southwest. Heavy rainfall inundated dozens of homes in Utah, while tornadoes in Arizona damaged roofs, brought down trees and disrupted power lines.
In Hurricane, in southwestern Utah, a shipping container was seen drifting through a flooded street on Friday before the water receded, leaving mud and debris behind. Some residents who had evacuated earlier in the week began returning home, even as authorities warned that the risk was shifting towards southeastern Utah, where streams remained swollen.
Flood watches were in effect in parts of Utah into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Northwestern New Mexico was also forecast to receive up to half an inch of additional rain.
Forecasters attributed the rainfall to remnants of tropical systems that had moved inland from the Pacific. Although the region's rocky terrain and sparse vegetation make it naturally vulnerable to flash floods, the recent rainfall had saturated the soil, increasing the likelihood of widespread flooding.
Authorities continued rescue and evacuation operations as communities braced for further rises in river levels.