Just hours after a woman in Tucson died in a flash flood, the same storm that’s battered much of Arizona is making its way to Durango.
Western Colorado is on flash-flood watch.
Dennis Phillips, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said Monday afternoon the weather models didn’t yet agree about the size of the deluge in store for Durango.
“I can’t tell you exactly how much rain Durango is going to get. If I could, I’d probably be a lot richer,” he said. “We run through about four different models, and they’re all showing something different.”
But he estimated areas in and around Durango might get anywhere from three-tenths of an inch to five-tenths of an inch.
Asked if that was a lot of rain, Phillips said it depends on how quickly it falls.
“If you get half an inch in 24 hours, that’s not so much,” he said. “But if you get half an inch in 15 minutes, that’s a lot.”
He said the storm was headed to Durango from Arizona, where there’s already flooding.
By 9:30 p.m. Monday, the weather service had upgraded the Moab, Utah, area from a flash-flood watch to a flash-flood warning.
“The Canyonlands airport has received a half inch of rain in the last couple of hours,” technician Dan Cuevas said, “and it’s still raining.”
The weather service also upgraded La Plata County’s chance of heavy rain from 90 to 100 percent overnight, although Cuevas said Southwest Colorado probably would receive the most rain today.
“There could be areas around Durango or in the San Juans (Mountains) that get over 2 inches of rainfall,” Phillips said. “There’s good potential for a rain event.”
In September last year, flash floods killed 10 people and cost more than $2.9 billion on the Front Range. Two major storms in Durango last September closed roads with flooding and mudslides, damaging homes in several hard-hit areas.
Beyond turning to umbrellas and prayer, Phillips said Durangoans should be mindful of the flash-flood warning and refrain from traveling roads prone to flooding.
“At the weather service, we have a mantra: Turn around. Don’t drown,” he said.
He said drivers should stay attuned to the weather service for updates.
Herald staff writer Ann Butler contributed to this story.
