Summer monsoon rains are delivering much-needed moisture, but they also mean risk of floods and mudslides.
The National Weather Service issued flash flood watches in parts of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and New Mexico Wednesday, as heavy rains and thunderstorms continued to move through.
Rain can quickly escalate to dangerous flooding in steep canyons, dry washes or downstream of land recently scorched by wildfires.
"With those burn scars, the soil can become hydrophobic, meaning that a lot of that water that falls into the soil is just going to run right off of it. So, debris flows are a big concern," said Gillian Felton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Floodwaters this past weekend pushed mud and trees from the Cottonwood Fire in Utah down Beaver Canyon, forcing evacuations. Mudslides from heavy rains also disrupted travel in Colorado, closing portions of Interstate-70 and smaller roads.
More heavy rainfall could come this week through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service, which could mean additional flood risk.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
