PHOENIX — Arizona is bracing for a soggy Sunday after emergency crews spent Friday night pulling dozens of drivers out of floodwaters across the Phoenix area, Arizona’s Family reported.
A Flood Watch took effect for the Valley and most of the state at 11 p.m. Saturday and runs through 5 a.m. Monday. Forecasters say saturated soil and runoff from Friday’s storms raise the flood risk even if the rain falls at moderate rates.
An additional 1 to 2 inches of rain is possible across the Valley, with localized totals of 3 to 5 inches in the High Country, according to the Arizona’s Family forecast. A few embedded thunderstorms could turn severe.
National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Salerno told KTAR News the system is a “long duration” event, with rain spread over eight to 12 hours instead of the two to three hours of Friday’s downpour. Parts of Paradise Valley picked up 2 to 3 inches in three hours on Friday, and much of north Scottsdale got 1 to 2 inches, KTAR reported.
“Our ground is already saturated,” Phoenix Fire Capt. Mike Johnson told Arizona’s Family. “So it’s not going to take a whole lot of water coming down to start filling these washes to create issues in roadways underneath overpasses.”
Johnson urged people to stay off the roads unless travel is essential. Emergency officials note that 6 inches of fast-moving water can knock an adult down and 12 inches can carry away most vehicles.
Cloud cover is expected to hold Sunday’s highs in the low 70s. Forecasters say skies clear quickly on Monday, kicking off an extended dry stretch with highs in the low to mid 70s through next week.
Sources: Arizona’s Family, Arizona’s Family, KTAR News. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worl / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
