Yves Wood stayed at their home in Flagstaff’s Southside neighborhood as long as possible. Wood barricaded their front door from the rising floodwaters, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. Wood evacuated on Sunday afternoon.
“It started coming from below my house, and so it started coming up through the floorboards, and at that point, I was like, ‘Well, if there's any time to go, now's the time,’” Wood told KNAU on Monday, a day after the flood drenched the community. “I put as much up as I could, and I just got out of here.”
Over the weekend, intense rainfall in Flagstaff soaked businesses, homes and streets in the Southside neighborhood. Officials said the current swept one man away, and that he was later found dead. The deluge came as communities across the region dealt with their own flooding, from Chinle to Tucson.
But in Flagstaff street sweepers were still clearing away mud and debris in Southside on Monday morning. Many homes and businesses bore a thin, muddy ring about eight inches above the ground, a sign of how high the water level reached before subsiding.
Wood is an astronomy major at nearby Northern Arizona University, and said while they rent their home, the rainwater destroyed many of their possessions.
Eshaan Tandon is another student at NAU who lives nearby. Tandon said he worried about damage to his car, but that his home seemed OK.
“A couple of our neighbors had some problems,” said Tandon. “They came and knocked on our door, asked for help. We had to push a couple cars out of the street. I would say it was maybe like two feet deep right here.”
The flood dealt a blow to Southside business owners as well as residents.
A friend called Taylor Mahoney of Flagstaff Camera on Sunday afternoon, warning Mahoney to check on his business. Despite stacking sandbags, water filled up Mahoney’s shop.
“When I came back this morning, the high water mark was probably 6 or 8 inches up, and the whole building's covered in fine silty mud,” said Mahoney. “It's pretty incredible.”
He predicted an immediate and harsh economic impact.
“I am absolutely going to lose out on at least several weeks’ worth of business,” he continued. “It was not just like some water in the street last night. I was coming out of here — it was a proper current. I mean, it was difficult to walk across. I've never seen it like that.”
Mahoney said he didn’t think he had flood insurance for his shop. Neither does Don Hulen, who owns a restaurant that locals call Bandos. Even in a neighborhood that sometimes sees flooding, he said this weekend stood out.
“I've owned businesses downtown since 2012. I've never seen anything like this,” said Hulen.
He said while his restaurant seems fine, he’s worried about his neighbors, since most people on his block likely aren’t insured against floods.
“This is going to take some recovery,” he said. “I think a lot of the homeowners in the area are probably not going to recover. I don't think a lot of these homes have flood insurance. It's very expensive.”
The City of Flagstaff on Monday advised residents to submit damage reports online and to avoid impacted neighborhoods like Southside and the downtown area.
Local musicians plan to hold a benefit concert for the Southside Community Association at 7:30 p.m. on Monday evening at Hops on Birch, a local beer house.
