Severe Flooding Devastates Four Corners as Four States Declare Emergencies and More Rain Is Expected

Severe flooding has hit the Four Corners region of the United States. Intense rainfall late this week sent rivers over their banks, towns declared evacuations and emergencies, and rescuers pulled people from rooftops — and officials say more flooding is expected through the weekend.

The Four Corners is where four states meet — New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Rare, heavy rainfall started on Wednesday, and by Thursday and Friday areas of southern Utah, southwest Colorado and the northern parts of Arizona and New Mexico were drenched, with floodwaters rising rapidly.

Looking out a window on Friday afternoon, Devin Neeley saw light, puffy clouds and a blue sky in San Juan County, New Mexico. The county's public information officer for emergency management called the scene "surreal" — because at the same time brown rainwaters were flooding homes in low-lying areas of the county and forcing sewage into the San Juan River.

"[The sky] belies really the danger that is coming down the river in historic levels," Neeley said. "We have not seen flooding like this in generations." He said emergency responders rescued people from their roofs after floodwater inundated their homes. The county is under an emergency declaration, and residents in susceptible areas were told to evacuate on Thursday afternoon.

"These are communities that have beautiful riverfront places to live," Neeley said. "And unfortunately, that's a problem today."

The southern Utah city of Hurricane issued an emergency declaration on Thursday after flooding damaged more than 100 homes and RVs. In a video posted by the National Weather Service, people were seen leading horses to safety through ankle-deep water. Responding to a post on X showing brownish-red floodwaters in Hurricane, Utah Governor Spencer Cox wrote on Thursday: "Our hearts are with the families whose homes and livelihoods have been impacted." He urged people to follow all evacuation orders and local emergency guidance and thanked the first responders working to keep Utahns safe.

In Farmington, New Mexico, at the center of the devastation, Police Chief Steve Hebbe said at a press conference on Friday that "this is singular and this is real." "So far, we have not had any deaths, that is very fortunate, but this is not something that should be played with," Hebbe said.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared disaster emergencies for 11 counties and authorized the use of National Guard members to assist with rescue efforts in southwest Colorado. In South Fork, Colorado, floodwaters surrounded trailers at the Fun Valley Family Resort campground and RV park early on Friday.

The police department for the Navajo Nation, which spans northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah, said on Thursday that authorities had rescued seven families — 30 people — from their flooded homes. The Hopi Tribe in northeastern Arizona also declared a state of emergency on Thursday, after heavy rainfall damaged roads, bridges, homes and other infrastructure.

The Archuleta County Sheriff's Office in Colorado warned residents to shelter in place on Friday morning, and by the evening had issued an evacuation warning.

The flooding follows a week of extreme weather across the Southwest. Arizona saw baseball-sized hail and a possible tornado that injured at least one person on Wednesday evening. The region's mountainous terrain is conducive to flooding; in August, intense flash flooding in the Grand Canyon led to multiple deaths.

Kris Sanders, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, Colorado, said severe thunderstorm warnings started earlier in the week. The remnants of Hurricane Trudy, which was active from October 15 to 18 in the Pacific Ocean, formed into a slow-moving low-pressure system that worked its way southwest.

Sanders said southwest Colorado and southeast Utah saw two to four inches of rain, while higher elevations such as the San Juan Mountains got up to six inches, causing small creeks, streams and rivers to flood. "Those rainfall amounts are records in themselves," he said. Such storms typically happen in the region at this time of year, he noted; an event last year caused major flooding in the same spots, "like a carbon copy" of this year. The threat is not over, Sanders said, and thunderstorm watches remain active in many of the same areas through Sunday.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, said the severe thunderstorms are fueled by the large amount of moisture in the air. That moisture, he said, comes from the record-warm waters off parts of the West Coast, driven by a strong El Niño event and a preexisting marine heat wave, which he attributes largely to human-caused climate change.

The flooding is not a surprise, Swain said, pointing to a prediction he and others made in the spring — that if El Niño materialized according to forecasts, the southwestern US could see extreme precipitation events through October. "That is exactly what we've seen," he said, "because this isn't even the first event this fall."

Neeley, the San Juan County official, said his community will be on alert for more damage and safety risks throughout the weekend. "People are concerned about their life and their welfare and their property," Neeley said. "This is going to be a long term impact to this community."