SEDONA, Arizona — The City of Sedona ordered residents in three creek-side zones to leave immediately on Sunday morning, November 1, as Oak Creek tore through the red-rock city after a night of heavy rain — the creek's biggest flood since 2004. Evacuation Zones 8, 9 and 10, covering the eastern side of Sedona along State Route 179 and around Oak Creek, were placed on GO status — leave now, in Arizona's Ready, Set, Go system — with evacuees directed to a shelter at Sedona Red Rock High School, the Arizona Republic reported, citing the City of Sedona and its Nixle alerts.

Source: Arizona Republic via Bazaar Daily News

From SET to GO in half an hour on Sunday morning

The city first moved the creek-side neighbourhoods to SET status at about 7:15 a.m. and then to GO at about 7:45 a.m. as the water kept rising, covering neighbourhoods from Uptown Sedona to Chapel Road, including the Villas at Poco Diablo, the Oak Creek Mobilodge and the Rancho Sedona RV Park. Other zones were not ordered out, but the city warned everyone to stay away from creek beds and washes and never to cross rushing water on a road, and residents can text REDROCKS to 888777 for city alerts. Downstream, Camp Verde also issued GO orders along the Verde River, West Clear Creek and Wet Beaver Creek.

By late Sunday morning the Sedona Fire District said it was calling in extra personnel to help with what it called an “excessive amount” of rescue operations around Oak Creek, and urged anyone in immediate danger to move to high ground and call 911 as soon as it was safe. A video shared with the department's post showed flooded vehicles and rushing water, and homes near Oak Creek Canyon were reported overwhelmed by floodwaters.

Source: Sedona Fire District via Arizona Republic

A record at Cornville, and a creek that rose about 12 feet overnight

The National Weather Service in Flagstaff extended a Flash Flood Warning for Coconino and Yavapai counties until 4:15 p.m. MST on Sunday, reporting that an automated stream gauge on Oak Creek near Cornville had surpassed its previous record, set in 1993. At noon the stage there was 19.56 feet — flood stage is 8 feet — after 2.5 to 4 inches of rain fell across the upper Oak Creek watershed, with moderate rain still falling and water levels expected to keep rising through the afternoon. At Sedona itself, the gauge read 12.44 feet at 11:45 a.m. against a flood stage of 14 feet, with a crest expected Sunday afternoon; at 13 feet the water reaches the terrace under the Tlaquepaque bridge and low-water crossings close, and at flood stage several islands downstream in Sedona are evacuated and access roads, buildings and homes along the creek flood.

Source: National Weather Service Flagstaff

Federal gauge data tell the overnight story in one line: Oak Creek at Sedona went from about 220 cubic feet per second on Saturday night to about 16,200 on Sunday morning — a rise of roughly 12 feet in a single night, and the biggest flood on the creek at Sedona since 2004; only three floods on record, in 1993, 1995 and 2004, ran higher. Downstream, Oak Creek at Cornville reached about 18,500 cubic feet per second and the Verde River at Clarkdale jumped from about 80 to about 23,600 cubic feet per second. The USGS figures are provisional and can be revised.

Why this storm is hitting four states at once — background

The flooding is driven by an atmospheric river — nicknamed a “pineapple express” because its moisture tap reaches back toward Hawaii — pulled south by a plunge of the jet stream near the West Coast, The Weather Channel reported. The ground it is falling on was already saturated: 2 to 5 inches of rain soaked the region last week, just over a week after destructive flooding plagued parts of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, and for Sedona this is the third flood event in three weeks. More than 30 flood and flash flood warnings were in effect across Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado on Sunday, and the Weather Prediction Center kept two Moderate Risk areas for flooding, over Arizona's Mogollon Rim and Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The National Weather Service in Flagstaff says rivers such as the Little Colorado and the Verde could run high for days after this weekend's soaking.

Source: The Weather Channel

Highways shut — and what happens next

Flooding and rockfall shut major routes with no estimated time to reopen: the Arizona Department of Transportation closed Interstate 17 northbound at State Route 179 and southbound at milepost 337 near the Flagstaff airport, State Route 89A between Sedona and Kachina Village, State Route 73 between Indian Pine and White River, and State Route 238 between Maricopa and Gila Bend, the Arizona Republic reported. Awaaz Punjab readers should note the I-17 and SR 89A closures in this same storm system were reported earlier on Sunday; the evacuation orders and the record creek are the new escalation. Another 1 to 4 inches of rain could fall across northern and central Arizona before Monday, so gauges, warnings and evacuation zones can all change quickly — anyone in the area should follow City of Sedona alerts, NWS Flagstaff warnings and ADOT road updates, stay out of washes, and never drive through flooded roads: six inches of moving water can knock a person down and a foot of water can float a vehicle.