US south-west braces for fresh flooding after days of heavy rain and storms
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for much of the Four Corners region of the US south-west, where days of rain have caused evacuations and water rescues. Officials say rivers are receding, but more heavy showers are expected.
A large part of the south-western United States was preparing on Sunday for another round of potentially heavy showers and thunderstorms, following days of rain that forced evacuations and water rescues. The National Weather Service (NWS), the US government's weather forecasting agency, has issued a flood watch for much of the Four Corners region, where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.
At the same time, local officials expect the rivers that swelled after rainfall intensified on Wednesday to keep receding.
San Juan county, New Mexico
About 4ft (1 metre) of water flooded the home of Shane Ferrari, sheriff of San Juan county in New Mexico. He said the situation in the area was stable on Sunday, but that he and other residents were cleaning up and dealing with damage.
County spokesperson Devin Neeley said there were no official figures on damaged homes or the number of people evacuated, though he knew of no deaths. Floodwaters are going down, but they have left behind mud and silt, much of it contaminated with sewage because of failures at waste plants. Several areas still have no electricity, and restoring power will probably take a few more days.
"It's a pretty active disaster zone," Neeley said. "We're not on the downswing by any means."
Wider context
The flooding is the latest episode in two months of on-and-off heavy rain driven by tropical moisture arriving from the Pacific. After months of drought, other recent deadly floods have struck the Grand Canyon area and parts of New Mexico.
