Hundreds of homes in the Four Corners region remained evacuated and without electricity on Saturday, after days of heavy rain, more than 5 inches (13 centimeters) in some places, pushed floodwater from the Colorado mountains down into the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona.
The San Juan River and other streams have fallen from record highs, but fresh storms moved through the area and prompted local officials to warn that more surges are possible. "This is not over, and we need you to monitor alerts," Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said at a news conference.
The flooding affected about 2,000 people in and around Farmington, a city of 46,000 near the point where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet. Rain picked up on Wednesday, and flooding peaked on Thursday and Friday. At least a couple hundred people needed rescue, and officials said the number was too high for busy crews to count accurately. Some people were stranded on rooftops.
San Juan County spokesperson Devin Neeley said the rescues included 11 hoist operations by New Mexico National Guard helicopters, each carrying as many as eight people to safety. Shelters were not full, which led officials to suspect that most evacuees were staying with friends and relatives.
Even though water levels have dropped, evacuation orders will stay in place until officials judge it safe to return. Downed power lines, leaking gas lines and the chance of more storms through the weekend all pose hazards. San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari acknowledged the strain on residents. "There's a lot of anxiety, and there's a lot of frustration," he said. "But please understand we are blocking those areas for your safety."
Officials in Colorado and New Mexico asked residents not to fly drones to check on property or to go sightseeing, warning that such activity can endanger rescue aircraft. They also asked people to reserve 911 for true emergencies.
Downstream from Farmington, the San Juan River flooded parts of the vast Navajo Nation. Water on the roadway closed a 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) stretch of U.S. Highway 64 west of Shiprock.
Upstream in Colorado, the muddy, milkshake-brown San Juan River tore through the hot springs resort town of Pagosa Springs at a level not seen in more than a century. The flood crested 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 centimeters) above one a little over a year ago that officials had called a 100-year flood. The Animas River ran in a muddy torrent through the tourist city of Durango, though below records going back more than a century.
Flooding reached as far east as the Conejos River in south-central Colorado, and Gov. Jared Polis added Conejos County to the list of places eligible for disaster help. U.S. 160 northeast of Pagosa Springs and some other routes remain closed, but the winding Million Dollar Highway, formally U.S. 550, has reopened between Durango and Ouray after crews dealt with an area of water damage.
The flooding is the latest episode in two months of on-and-off heavy rain fed by tropical moisture moving ashore from the Pacific. After months of drought, other recent deadly floods struck the Grand Canyon and parts of New Mexico. The region's rocky deserts are naturally prone to flash floods, and the saturated soils now make flooding even more likely.
