The cleanup has begun in Camp Verde, Arizona, where more than 100 homes were flooded and more than a dozen were completely destroyed after Beaver Creek broke its banks during the state's historic weekend storm, AZFamily (KTVK/KPHO) reported on Wednesday, November 4 — the first street-level damage count from one of the hardest-hit towns, as the National Weather Service in Phoenix kept flood warnings running on the Salt, Gila and Verde rivers through Saturday because of dam releases upstream. This follows Awaaz Punjab's earlier reporting on the weekend storm itself, Governor Katie Hobbs's statewide emergency declaration and the two flood deaths in Flagstaff; what is new today is the scale of the damage in Camp Verde and the extended river warnings.

Source: AZFamily / KTVK-KPHO, November 4, 2026

In Camp Verde, in Yavapai County, residents are starting to rebuild while others are still searching for animals swept away. The flash flooding prompted emergency evacuation orders over the weekend for many Arizona communities, and crews spent a day pulling trapped residents from their flooded homes. Between Saturday night and Monday, between 4 and 7 inches of rain fell on Yavapai County, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

A night in the water: the horse rescues on Beaver Creek

One couple's account shows what the water did. Heather said the water was at its highest when she arrived at 7 a.m. 'I saw a horse within reaching distance. I grabbed a halter,' she said. 'And I went out there, and I haltered it. I pulled it back in.' She described walking through rushing floodwater — 'extremely dangerous water' — and said that when Caleb saw her wade in, he began emptying his pockets and helping her. Together, Heather and Caleb rescued three horses, five dogs, two people and two chickens. A third horse was stuck up to its belly in mud with a wounded leg; they dug it out with whatever tools they could find, pushed and pulled it with a rope, and applied a tourniquet to a large cut on its leg before getting it across. Five people took part in the rescue, on a road that was collapsing, in thick mud, with horses exhausted after treading water all night. Six horses remain missing, and Heather says she plans to go back out searching 'whether they're dead or alive.'

How neighbours are helping: the Ruby Road Vintage donation hub

In town, Ruby Road Vintage in Camp Verde has started a donation hub for displaced neighbours. Staff have set up tables with socks, undergarments, shorts, jackets, pillows, food and jeans for people who were told to evacuate. Owners Pamela and Nicole said donations have come in as a steady stream for about a day and a half, and people can take whatever they need. The hub is seeking warm clothing, blankets, children's clothes and shoes; some residents also need hay and grain for animals, warm meals and bread, and food and gasoline gift cards are requested. Ruby Road Vintage is located near Sullivan and Howards roads, south of Highway 260, and donations can also be sent to any church in Camp Verde, which can distribute them.

The rivers are still running high — Wednesday's updated warnings

The rain has stopped, but the flooding has not, because the water is now coming from dams. The National Weather Service in Phoenix said at 1:22 p.m. MST on Wednesday that flooding from upstream dam releases continues on the Verde River between Bartlett Lake and the Salt River, with the gauge below Bartlett Dam measuring around 13,500 cubic feet per second at 1:16 p.m. MST; it extended the flood warning for Rio Verde and Fort McDowell until 2 p.m. MST Thursday, November 5, and said recreation on or near the Verde River will be unsafe. Earlier Wednesday, at 7:21 a.m. MST, NWS Phoenix said dam-release flooding continues along the Salt and Gila rivers in Maricopa County: a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gauge on the Gila River near Old US 80 showed flow over 50,000 cubic feet per second, with flooding toward Goodyear, Liberty, Phoenix International Raceway, Arlington and Painted Rock Dam under warning until 2 p.m. MST Saturday, November 7. About 23,000 cubic feet per second was being released from Granite Reef Dam, keeping low-water crossings upstream of Tempe Town Lake, including McKellips Road, flooded into Thursday, and Tempe Town Lake releases keep crossings downstream in Phoenix, Laveen and Avondale flooded until 8 p.m. MST Thursday.

On Tuesday, water roared down the normally dry Salt River through metro Phoenix as the Salt River Project released the most water from its Verde River dams in more than three decades. Releases from SRP's Bartlett and Stewart Mountain dams reached about 54,000 cubic feet per second and were likely to exceed 60,000; releases over Granite Reef Dam topped 55,000 cubic feet per second early Tuesday, the highest since spring 2023, and a Maricopa County Flood Control District gauge below the Salt-Gila confluence measured more than 61,000 cubic feet per second. Officials said high flows could last up to two weeks and urged people to stay out of washes, rivers and closed roads.

How the historic storm built up, Friday to Sunday

The storm soaked much of Arizona from Friday, October 30 through Sunday, November 1, dropping months' worth of rain on parts of the Southwest. Maricopa County said the three-day storm dropped 1 to 4 inches of rain across the lower desert, including metro Phoenix, and up to 8 inches in the foothills and higher ground; the heaviest rain fell in the higher terrain north and east of Phoenix, where many locations got 3 to 6 inches or more. In Tucson, the first two days of November were the wettest on record for that stretch, with records dating to 1894, the Arizona Daily Star reported. The weather service in Flagstaff said the area is already having its wettest fall on record, with records dating to 1898 and most of November still to go. Maricopa County declared a local emergency Monday for unincorporated areas after search-and-rescue calls and road closures, and Governor Katie Hobbs declared a statewide state of emergency on Monday to free up resources to help residents and repair infrastructure.

In Flagstaff, two men died in the floodwaters. Williams Singavarapu, 73, of New York, fell into the water near Malpais Lane and Clay Avenue shortly after 5:30 p.m. Sunday, AZFamily reported. A second man was found dead on Monday morning in a stormwater drainage area; Flagstaff police said they were investigating that death as potentially weather-related. 'We haven't seen impacts like this in years, if ever,' said Tim Carter of Coconino County Emergency Management. Coconino County said Monday evening that residents in most evacuated areas could return home, but would need to show proof of residency at police checkpoints.

Rescues and closures across the state

The flooding reached well beyond Camp Verde. The Pima County Sheriff's Department carried out 16 river rescues. Near Sedona, at least 40 people were rescued along Oak Creek, and evacuations were ordered in Sedona zones 8, 9 and 10, as well as in Camp Verde, Tonto Basin and Queen Valley. In Tempe, firefighters rescued a man from a tree near the Loop 101 and Loop 202 interchange, and water activities on Tempe Town Lake were suspended. State Route 89A remained closed between Sedona and Kachina Village, from mileposts 375 to 397, and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) said its crews have been working around the clock since Friday, October 30, responding to record rainfall and flooding on highways across the state, with several highways still closed on Tuesday and no estimated reopening time. In northeastern Arizona, flood-damaged roads kept hundreds of people in the Native American community of Rock Point from reaching polling places on Tuesday.

What happens next

Flood warnings on the Salt and Gila rivers run until 2 p.m. MST Saturday, November 7, and the Verde River warnings were extended into Thursday. In Camp Verde, the work is now recovery: residents clearing more than 100 flooded homes, a donation hub asking for clothing, blankets, animal feed and gift cards, and a continuing search for six missing horses. Statewide, the emergency declarations from Governor Hobbs and Maricopa County remain the framework for repair money and resources, and officials say river levels will be set less by the sky this week than by how much water the dams still have to release.