FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — People in Flagstaff are still cleaning up after more than three inches of rain fell onto a large part of the Museum Fire Burn Scar Tuesday.
More than a dozen homes had were flooded inside the Museum Fire flood area as waters flooded city streets as well.
14 homes flooded
Co-Incident Commander of the Museum Fire Flood Area Lucinda Andreani said the rain the burn scar experienced is a 200 to 500-year rain event.
“It’s very difficult to mitigate to that size of the storm,” Andreani said.
In total, Andreani said 14 homes had water damage inside.
It’s the latest of several storms
“This is hard, this is classic post-wildfire flooding,” Andreani said. “Repetitive, severe flooding.”
Neighbors impacted
The corner of Dortha Avenue and Main Street had three homes flooded from the storm Tuesday.
“The flooding came from the back,” Dawn Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez lives with her family in one of the three homes. She said she’s lived there for 20 years, and experienced flooding before.
“Just worse with the Museum Fire,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said a drain in the back of homes on the street plugged up and led to water flowing over barriers, sandbags and straight into her and her neighbors' homes.
Rodriguez’s whole house was flooded. She said a bulk of her things had to be thrown out.
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Community coming together
As the water flowed down the street, Andrew Jones went to work trying to help people get out of their homes.
On Wednesday, Jones was helping stack sandbags and shovel mud out of homes and yards to try and brace for the next storm.
“They’ve just been hit really hard,” Jones said.
Rodriguez described Jones as their ‘superman’ for the help he’s given and said she’s grateful for support from other areas affected by the flooding.
“Hearing about their heartfelt sayings and prayers, that made all the difference,” Rodriguez said. “That’s what kept us going.”
Extensive damage
Those in the Museum Fire Flood Area have experienced flooding several times over this monsoon season.
In July, Governor Doug Ducey made up to $200,000 available for Coconino County to address flood damage.
However, City of Flagstaff Mayor Paul Deasy said more funding is needed to try and address the damage that’s been done.
“Inevitably we need the help of FEMA, we need a federal disaster declared for Flagstaff so we get the resources we need to take care of us here,” Deasy said.
Arizona Weather
Arizona has seen its fair share of severe weather. Here is a compilation of videos from various storms across the Grand Canyon state.