Record flooding hits Four Corners region
The gist
A second storm brought record river crests across the Four Corners region about ten days after historic flooding.
Residents in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah face evacuations and sewage-tainted water.
How it unfolded
- Oct 23, 2026Rare heavy rainfall began hitting the Four Corners region; parts of southwest Colorado and southeast Utah saw two to four inches, with up to six inches at higher elevations.
- Oct 23, 2026A National Weather Service gauge on the San Juan at Farmington, New Mexico hit 14.07 feet before it stopped reporting, and a USGS gauge reached 15 feet, both far above the previous record of 12.3 feet from 1909.
- Oct 23, 2026Pagosa Springs ordered evacuations before the river crested Friday morning at 15.02 feet, the second-highest crest on record, and the town declared a disaster emergency overnight.