The Greenlee County Sheriff's Office has issued a voluntary evacuation for the town of Clifton in eastern Arizona, warning that the San Francisco River is rising rapidly and is expected to come over the bridge at about 3 a.m. on Monday, November 2, the Gila Herald reported. Sheriff Eric Ellison told residents in a public address: 'We are evacuating Clifton, so if you are in Clifton right now, get a bag, get your belongings packed, and please exit Clifton. We expect the water to come over the bridge at about 3 a.m.'

Source: The Gila Herald, Nov 2, 2026

Emergency officials project the river will crest above 23 feet, the Herald reported. Clifton, Arizona, weather listings for Monday carried a National Weather Service River Flood Warning from 3:25 a.m. MST until 8:00 p.m. MST, with a Flood Watch in effect until 5:00 a.m. MST — the federal warning independently confirming that river flooding, not just heavy rain, is the expected event in Clifton itself.

Source: Weather.com / National Weather Service alerts for Clifton, AZ, Nov 2, 2026

Crews have already closed the smaller floodgates that protect the town, the Herald reported. If the river reaches the expected thresholds, officials will close Clifton's massive main floodgates — known locally as the 'Jurassic Park' gates — sealing off access routes through the lower flood zone. That closure cuts both ways: it protects South Clifton behind the levee system, and it can also strand people on the wrong side, which is why the sheriff's office was urging residents to leave before the water crosses the key road access points, gather essential medications and documents, and monitor emergency updates through the night.

Shelter at Duncan, and Morenci mine workers in the squeeze

An emergency shelter has been set up at the Duncan Fairgrounds — the Greenlee County Fairgrounds — in the nearby town of Duncan. 'If you're being evacuated and you need shelter, you can go to the Duncan Fairgrounds, and shelter will be provided for you,' Sheriff Ellison said. 'So if you need a place to go, head down to Duncan. Go to the county fairgrounds, and you'll be taken care of there. Have a safe night. Be careful.' The Herald also noted that many workers at Freeport-McMoRan's Morenci Operations — the large copper mine that is the economic engine of Greenlee County, just up the road from Clifton — may be stuck because of the gate closures, a direct hit to shift workers and to the truck and supply traffic that serves the mine on U.S. Route 191, the Coronado Boulevard corridor through town.

The storm that sent the river up

Clifton's flood is the Arizona end of the same weather system that soaked the Southwest all weekend. A Pineapple Express atmospheric river brought rain to Southern California on Halloween, then moved east into Arizona on Sunday, where between 2 and 6 inches of rain fell in places and caused flooding, the Insurance Journal reported, summarising AccuWeather and Associated Press reporting. Flood watches were announced for parts of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, and heavy rainfall caused flash flooding and mandatory evacuations in several areas of the Southwest on Sunday — in Sedona, Arizona, residents in some areas were ordered to evacuate as floodwaters rose and multiple people were trapped in their homes. A separate National Weather Service Flood Watch issued by the Tucson office covered the Upper Gila River Valley including Clifton and Safford, and the White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties, through the night.

A town built around a river that has done this before

Clifton is a historic copper-mining town on Arizona's eastern border, and the San Francisco River does not pass beside it — it flows through the heart of town, one reason local officials run a permanent flood-preparedness system: sirens tested on the first Tuesday of every month, monitoring equipment on the river from Glenwood, New Mexico, down to Clifton, and the floodgate-and-levee system built after the town's catastrophic floods. The flood of October 1, 1983, driven by Tropical Storm Octave, remains the defining disaster in the town's own history record: over 700 homes were destroyed, 86 of the town's 126 businesses were heavily damaged, and most of Clifton's then 4,200 residents had to be evacuated. The large floodgates at the south end of town, where the Coronado Bridge spans the river, were built in the early 1990s to protect South Clifton, alongside a levee about half a mile long; before this week they were last closed for a real threat, rather than a drill, in September 2013, according to the town history.

This is also not Clifton's first flood scare this autumn. On October 22, the Phoenix Focal reported that flash flooding and rockslides had damaged vehicles, homes and infrastructure in Clifton after heavy storms the previous Tuesday night, that crews cleared mud from roads and underpasses, and that sand was made available at four locations — Clifton Town Hall, Ward Canyon, Veterans Park and the Clifton Historic Shovel — while the area stayed under a flood watch. In other words, the ground, the washes and the river system around Clifton were already wet and battered before this weekend's atmospheric river arrived, which is part of why a further 2 to 6 inches of regional rain translated so quickly into a river crest threatening the bridge.

What happens next

The decisive hours are Monday morning, Arizona time: the expected crest at about 3 a.m. MST, the start of the National Weather Service River Flood Warning at 3:25 a.m., and the decision on closing the main 'Jurassic Park' gates. The warning runs until 8 p.m. MST Monday, so even after the crest passes, residents should expect closed gates, cut-off low-lying access and a damage check before any all-clear. Emergency personnel were to remain on scene monitoring river levels throughout the night, the Herald reported. For truckers and travellers, U.S. 191 through Clifton is the route at risk — check Arizona road conditions before routing freight, mine traffic or personal travel through Greenlee County on Monday.