Historic flooding forces evacuations in Southwest as storm shifts east for Election Day

A storm causing historic flooding, evacuations and rescues in the Southwest is now pushing into the central United States, where it will bring soggy weather on Election Day on Tuesday. The conditions will be much less serious on Election Day but could still affect turnout in key races across the nation’s midsection. Active weather tends to suppress voter turnout while sunshine has the opposite effect, multiple studies have found. Rain is finally easing up in the Southwest after the storm dropped multiple months’ worth of it, causing waterways to burst their banks and forcing evacuations in a least a dozen counties across parts of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.

Crews in Arizona are still searching for a missing man who fell into fast-moving floodwater in Flagstaff and have conducted rooftop rescues around Sedona. Over 10 rivers, creeks and washes in Arizona and southwest Colorado have now surged past major flood stage — the highest level — and a few have set new record crests. Flooding of some swollen waterways could last through at least Tuesday. Record flooding is unfolding along the Little Colorado River near Winslow, Arizona, and the Gila River near Solomon, Arizona.

The Gila River is more than 2 feet higher than the level capable of flooding several homes and businesses on the north sides of Solomon, Safford and Thatcher, Arizona, according to the National Weather Service. In Colorado, evacuations have been ordered along the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs, which has surged past major flood stage for the second time in about 10 days. Sunday evening’s crest there was nearly 2 feet higher than the destructive flooding on October 23.

Storm pushes east for Election Day The storm is now pushing into the Plains and Midwest with gusty winds and soaking rain. Severe thunderstorms are possible Monday afternoon into the night across the central and southern Plains, including in Dallas-Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kansas. Damaging winds are the primary threat, but a few tornadoes are also possible. The storm will lose some of its strength on Election Day, but rain will impact voters from the Great Plains and Upper Midwest south through the Mississippi Valley to the western Gulf Coast.

Key races in Iowa, Kansas, eastern Texas and northern Michigan will deal with wet conditions. Isolated severe storms are possible from eastern Texas to the lower and middle Mississippi Valley. The threat of flooding rain is low, but voters traveling to the polls could encounter ponding on roads. Dry weather will sandwich the storm along much of the East Coast and in the West. Some showers in Florida, northern New England and Northern California are the only exceptions.

Across much of the country, there will be little need to bundle up to go vote. High temperatures in most of the nation’s eastern half are forecast to be 5 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Some portions of the Southwest and Plains will lean a bit cooler than average. Key race forecast