Phoenix experiences record setting rainfall as cars are engulfed

Mike Gallagher

Sep 8, 2014 - 16:41

Sep 8, 2014 - 16:48

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Phoenix experiences record setting rainfall as cars are engulfed

Phoenix rainfall records are washed away as the desert city experiences its wettest day ever with three inches falling before 7a.m.

The remnants of Hurricane Norbert pushed into the desert Southwest and swamped Phoenix with record rainfall for a single day, tuing freeways into small lakes and sending rescuers scrambling to get drivers out of inundated cars.

In Tucson, one woman died after her car was swept away by heavy floods and became trapped against a bridge.

A flash flood waing was issued for most of the Phoenix area and its outskirts through Monday moing because of heavy thunderstorms and showers associated with Norbert after it was downgraded to a tropical depression.

Flash flood watches covered most of the rest of Arizona.

Sections of Interstates 10 and 17 in west Phoenix were closed during the moing commute. A state Department of Public Safety officer used the roof of his SUV to carry three stranded motorists from a flooded area of I-10.

Cars and SUVs sat in water up to their hoods on the freeway, while dozens of other motorists parked on its wide, banked borders to stay clear of the water.

Joseph Friend was driving onto the freeway at 43rd Avenue about 4:15 a.m. when a passing big rig ruined his day.

'A big tidal wave just came up and totally took me out, came over the hood of my truck,' Friend said.

With water filling his vehicle, he climbed out and walked up the freeway embankment to wait it out. His pickup truck was barely visible at the peak of the flooding.

The motorists on embankments were lucky, Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said.

'They were safe in doing so,' he added.

By late moing, the water on I-10 had receded, allowing trucks to take away several dozen vehicles that had been swamped and stranded.

The National Weather Service recorded 2.99 inches of rain by about 7 a.m., breaking the old record of 2.91 inches set in 1933. The rainfall also eclipsed Phoenix's average total rainfall of 2.71 inches for the entire summer rainy season in Phoenix.

The Arizona Department of Transportation said its pumping stations couldn't keep up with the downfall on freeways.

Johnjay Van Es of the syndicated radio show Johnjay & Rich was stranded in his BMW at an intersection near his office around 4 a.m. Van Es said he didn't see the water in the dark intersection until it was too late.

'I just coasted into the flood,' he said.

Van Es was stranded for two hours and did part of his radio show from his car. He was able to crawl from an open window of his swamped car into the waiting truck of co-host Rich Berra.

In Tempe, part of a grocery store roof collapsed because of the rain, but none of the people inside was injured, police Lt. Mike Pooley said.

Numerous street closures were reported in cities across the area, and fire departments were dispatched on multiple water rescues, Phoenix fire Capt. Ruben Saavedra said.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer declared a state of emergency because of the flooding and told non-essential state workers to stay home.

Scattered electricity outages were reported, with over 10,000 customers losing power.

Numerous school systems and colleges closed campuses, delayed openings or advised parents that buses were running late.

The flooding came during an especially wet season in Arizona that included a storm three weeks ago that dumped more rain on some areas than has been received all last summer. That storm also prompted several dramatic rescues as floodwaters submerged cars.

Storms that flooded several Phoenix-area freeways and numerous local streets during the Monday moing commute set an all-time record for rainfall in Phoenix in a single day.

The National Weather Service recorded 2.99 inches of rain by about 7 a.m., breaking the old record of 2.91 inches set in 1933.