Storm lingers over Arizona after battering California
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The remnants of the biggest storm to hit Arizona in nearly two decades lingered over the state Friday after drenching California, while authorities in both states continued to tally the damage.
In Arizona, flooding swept through small towns, caused a train derailment and closed major interstates. Snow collapsed roofs in the northern part of the state. Meanwhile, searchers looked for a 6-year-old boy swept away late Thursday in a flood.
Searchers spent Friday looking for the boy, who was caught in rising waters about 70 miles north of Phoenix. Dwight D’Evelyn, a Yavapai County sheriff’s spokesman, said the boy was presumed dead.
Three others died in vehicle accidents this week — two on Interstate 40 east of Flagstaff and one in Phoenix — as a series of storms moved through the state. At least two people were killed by trees toppled by high winds in California in recent days.
In Southern California, hundreds of evacuees were allowed to return home Friday as a week of lightning, vicious downpours and tornadoes dissipated into occasional thunderstorms. Tens of thousands of people remained without power throughout the state.
Flood-control channels remained swollen and swift despite the drop in rainfall. In one dramatic rescue Friday afternoon, a dog was hoisted from the Los Angeles River by helicopter after trying to scramble up the steep concrete sides for more than an hour.
The storms pushed through California and into Arizona on Monday dumping more than 41‚Ñ2 feet of snow in the Flagstaff area, 2 inches of rain in Phoenix, 3 inches of rain in Yuma and 5 inches of rain in Sedona.
Southern Arizona saw wind gusts of up to 80 mph, and the mountains received between 2 and 5 feet of snow, forecasters said.
“This was a high-impact event,” said Brian Klimowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Flagstaff. “It was a storm that impacted all of Arizona with flooding and very heavy snow, certainly ranking in the top five of all-time snow or rain events for the state.”
Forecasts called for rain to continue Friday evening in the Phoenix area.
In western Arizona, a 2-foot surge of runoff flooded streets and an undetermined number of homes early Friday in Wenden, a community of 500 people about 100 miles west of Phoenix. The high waters also stranded seven hikers in Yavapai County, who were considered safe.
Travel in northern Arizona was severely restricted with the closures of the main routes between Phoenix and Flagstaff. Interstate 40 between Kingman and Winslow also was shut down.
Across metropolitan Phoenix, downed trees blocked driveways, and palm fronds and other debris from the storm littered the streets. A teenager died after the vehicle he was in lost control while traveling through water Thursday afternoon on a Phoenix street.
In Prescott, downed trees were blocking roadways, and some homes had 3 to 4 inches of rain inside after a prominent creek reached historically high levels, said city spokesman Kim Kapin.