El Niño system is on the way
A vehicle and other debris is pushed along by swiftly moving floodwaters during a severe storm on Tuesday in Desert Hills, Arizona.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Firefighters waded through knee-high floodwater Tuesday to rescue a woman stranded in her minivan as muddy runoff gushed to the tops of her tires.
It was the latest in a series of October storms that could provide a preview of what’s in store in the coming months as an El Niño system moves in and threatens to bring unstable weather to the Southwest.
The dramatic rescue played out north of Phoenix, where Cindy Musselman said there was just a little water on the road when she tried to cross a desert wash.
“It went whoosh,” she said of the rapidly rising water. “It caught me.”
El Niño doesn’t necessarily mean winter storms will be more intense, but they will be more frequent, said Tony Merriman of the National Weather Service.
