Historic Flooding Sweeps Four Corners, Prompting Evacuations and State Declarations

Starting Wednesday, heavy rainstorms drenched the Four Corners region, creating brown, rapidly rising floodwaters that inundated low-lying areas in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Emergency managers issued disaster declarations in numerous counties, mandated evacuations and activated National Guard personnel to support rescue operations. First-responders have rescued people from rooftops and evacuated dozens of families, while road closures and bridge damage have disrupted travel.

Governors Spencer Cox and Jared Polis expressed sympathy for affected families and authorized additional resources. The National Weather Service linked the event to record precipitation tied to a strong El Niño and unusually warm Pacific waters, a pattern climate scientists say is intensified by human-driven climate change. Although no deaths have been confirmed, over a hundred homes and many RVs have been damaged, and the flooding is expected to persist through the weekend.