The search in Flagstaff, Arizona, has ended in a death. A 73-year-old man who fell into fast-moving floodwaters on Sunday evening and was not seen resurfacing — the missing man this newsroom reported crews were still searching for on Monday — was found dead early Monday morning and identified by the Flagstaff Police Department as Williams Singavarapu, 73, of New York, according to a police news release reported by CNN and by FlagScanner. His death is the first confirmed fatality of the historic Southwest storm that dropped months' worth of rain on the region over the weekend, forced evacuations in at least a dozen counties across Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, and is now pushing east into the Plains in time to bring rain to Election Day voters on Tuesday.

Source: CNN via KION Central Coast

The timeline, as the Flagstaff Police Department laid it out, runs from Sunday evening to Monday dawn. At approximately 5:47 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, Flagstaff police and fire personnel were dispatched to the area of South Malpais Lane and West Clay Avenue after reports that a man had fallen into rushing floodwaters and failed to resurface. Crews searched through the night. At approximately 5:28 a.m. on Monday, November 2, emergency personnel were sent to East Ellery Avenue and South W.C. Riles Street — less than a mile from where he was last seen, according to AZFamily (KPHO) — after a report of an unresponsive person. First responders found the man deceased, and investigators confirmed he was the same person reported missing the previous evening. Sergeant Jerry Rintala identified him as Williams Singavarapu, of New York. The circumstances of his death remain under investigation, and police are asking anyone who witnessed the incident or has information to call the Flagstaff Police Department at 928-774-1414 or Silent Witness at 928-774-6111.

Source: FlagScanner, reporting the Flagstaff Police Department release

How Sunday unfolded in Flagstaff

Sunday in Flagstaff was a day of near-nonstop rain that flooded local roads, overwhelmed storm drains and sent water into buildings across the Coconino County city, the Associated Press reported in its earlier coverage of the search. Flagstaff officials confirmed at least six water rescues in the city on Sunday, FOX 10 Phoenix reported, and the National Weather Service had estimated that up to about 4 inches of rain could fall across the region — two to three months' worth in a couple of days, in the NWS Tucson office's characterisation. Outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, volunteers and parishioners filled plastic bags with sand through the day to try to keep floodwater out; Luke Willson said water still got into the church's garage, basement and office, and that "the pumps are pumping, but they're not pumping fast enough." It was in those conditions, in the early evening, that Singavarapu lost his footing near fast-moving water at Malpais Lane, fell in, and did not resurface.

A region under water: record rivers and evacuations

Flagstaff's death came as the storm's flooding reached historic levels across the Southwest. More than 10 rivers, creeks and washes in Arizona and southwest Colorado have surged past major flood stage — the highest category — and several have set new record crests, CNN reported, with flooding on some waterways expected to last through at least Tuesday. Record flooding unfolded along the Little Colorado River near Winslow, Arizona, and the Gila River near Solomon, Arizona: early Monday morning the Gila crested more than 2 feet higher than the level capable of flooding several homes and businesses on the north sides of Solomon, Safford and Thatcher, according to the National Weather Service. Around Sedona, crews conducted rooftop rescues as water trapped people in their homes.

In northwestern New Mexico's San Juan County, around 20,000 people received alerts to evacuate areas within half a mile of the Animas, La Plata and San Juan rivers, county spokesperson Devin Neeley told CNN on Monday, with rescues under way and water already inside homes. In Colorado, the San Juan River at Pagosa Springs surged past major flood stage for the second time in about 10 days; Sunday evening's crest there was nearly 2 feet higher than the destructive flooding of October 23. Mandatory evacuations were also issued Sunday evening along the Rio Grande in South Fork, Del Norte and Monte Vista, Colorado; South Fork officials said no injuries or missing people had been reported in those areas as of Monday morning. Rain has now ended in the Southwest — but the water, on the biggest rivers, has not finished rising everywhere, and officials expect some flooding to continue into Tuesday.

The same storm now heads for Election Day

The system is pushing into the Plains and Midwest with gusty winds and soaking rain. Severe thunderstorms are possible Monday afternoon into the night across the central and southern Plains, including Dallas-Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kansas; damaging winds are the primary threat, but a few tornadoes are also possible, CNN's meteorologists reported. By Election Day on Tuesday the storm will have weakened, but rain will still fall on voters from the Great Plains and Upper Midwest south through the Mississippi Valley to the western Gulf Coast, with key races in Iowa, Kansas, eastern Texas and northern Michigan dealing with wet conditions. Isolated severe storms are possible from eastern Texas to the lower and middle Mississippi Valley; the flooding-rain threat is low, but voters travelling to the polls could meet ponding water on roads. Much of the East Coast and the West will stay dry, and high temperatures across most of the country's eastern half are forecast at 5 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Multiple studies cited by CNN have found that active weather tends to suppress voter turnout, while sunshine has the opposite effect — one reason campaigns watch a forecast like this one closely.

For the many Punjabi truckers and diaspora families who drive and live along the I-40 and I-17 corridors through Flagstaff, the lesson of this storm is the one the National Weather Service repeats in its long-running "Turn Around, Don't Drown" campaign: floodwater hides the road beneath it, and it takes very little moving water to sweep a person — or a vehicle — away. Singavarapu was on foot when he fell. Anyone driving the region through Tuesday should check conditions before setting out, and never enter a flooded roadway.