Flood — Pinal, Arizona

2021-07-25 to 2021-07-27 · near Friendly Corners, Pinal, Arizona

Event narrative

Widespread rain occurred on July 24 and 25 in the Santa Cruz River watershed in Pinal County and upstream in much of eastern Pima County with 48 hour rain totals of 3 to 4 inches common. High flows in the river traveled downstream into Greene Wash. A levee breached in the wash near Toltec Buttes and washed out a road, then flowed into a canal, causing damage along 3/4 mile of the canal. Further downstream in Greene Wash, Sunland Gin Rd was also flooded and damaged. Indian Route 15 near Chuichu was also flooded and two nearby homes sustained minor flood damage.

Wider weather episode

A slow moving upper level weather system produced periods of heavy rain across southeast Arizona July 24 and 25, especially in Pinal and Pima counties. Flash flooding occurred where soils were already saturated from heavy rains of July 22 and 23 and runoff continued to fill the Santa Cruz River downstream. Floodwaters caused considerable road damage and a levee break in Greene Wash also caused significant damage to a section of a canal in Pinal County. Before the weather system exited the area, another round of heavy rain during the afternoon and evening of July 27 caused additional flash flooding in the Tucson Metro and in Santa Cruz County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.5910, -111.6082)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 976446. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.