A soaked swath of the American Southwest remained on high alert Sunday as forecasters warned that additional rounds of thunderstorms could trigger more flash flooding across the Four Corners region.
The National Weather Service maintained a flood watch across parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah following several consecutive days of heavy downpours that inundated neighborhoods, forced residents onto roofs and triggered hundreds of emergency evacuations.
Rooftop rescues and contaminated mud
The intense precipitation, which began picking up Wednesday, pushed waterways to historic highs. In Farmington, New Mexico, the San Juan River crested Friday at 2 feet above a record mark originally set in 1909, The Guardian reported.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement Saturday that law enforcement personnel conducted hundreds of water rescues between Bloomfield and Farmington. Stranded residents spent Friday night on rooftops awaiting National Guard and state police rescue teams, according to the governor, who confirmed that no deaths had been reported.
Floodwaters began slowly receding in parts of northwestern New Mexico by Sunday, but local authorities cautioned that significant hazards remain. In San Juan County, New Mexico, floodwaters rose to roughly 4 feet inside the personal residence of Sheriff Shane Ferrari, CBS News reported.
Devin Neeley, a spokesperson for San Juan County, told reporters that the area remained an active disaster zone. Although the county had not yet compiled official counts of damaged properties or displaced residents, Neeley noted that receding waters left behind deep silt and mud tainted by municipal sewage systems that failed during the surge.
“We’re not on the downswing by any means,” Neeley said, adding that widespread electrical outages could persist for several days.
Colorado bridges closed, New Mexico twister strikes
In southwestern Colorado, river surges forced the Colorado Department of Transportation to close the San Juan River Bridge on Sunday after water levels climbed sharply overnight, according to CBS News. In the town of Pagosa Springs, floodwaters submerged entire houses, leaving only chimneys and rooftop edges visible above the current.
Severe weather in the region also triggered tornadic activity. A tornado touched down around 7 p.m. Saturday in Santa Fe, New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. The city of Santa Fe reported that the twister damaged at least eight residences and caused two roofs to collapse, though no injuries were reported, The Guardian reported.
Meteorologists attributed the prolonged deluge to Pacific tropical moisture amplified by El Niño conditions. The system delivered unusual autumn totals to dry terrain, heightening the risk of rapid runoff in narrow canyons and areas scarred by recent wildfires.
Threat shifts toward the Plains
According to CBS News meteorologist Andrew Kozak, repeated rounds of heavy rain threatened to expand late Sunday into the central and northern Plains before tracking toward the Upper Midwest on Monday and Tuesday.
While local rivers across the Four Corners showed signs of cresting, emergency managers emphasized that saturated soil and battered infrastructure mean any additional rainfall could quickly renew life-threatening flash flooding.
