TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — When monsoon settles in for days at a time it makes for a wild washout of a weekend.
At Lakeside Park near Stella and Sarnoff, we found a bad example of how to view the monsoon’s high water: a group, including young children, standing on the edge of the dam’s spillway in Lakeside Park inches away from water rushing downstream.
One slip could put them in a swirling trap of fast flowing water and debris.
Even long-time residents like Tracy Odom have never seen lake levels this high.
“I’ve been coming out here for a long time. I just fished here a month ago. Where I usually fish from was a ten foot drop down to the water and it’s all the way to the top now.”
Michelle Simmons says she saw high water like this when she was growing up. She wasn’t sure she’d ever see it again.
“I’ve seen it full more than this. I’ve seen the Pantano Wash overflow its banks and just wash out on the sides. So, that was a long time ago when I was younger but we’ve got pictures of it overflowing, the Pantano Wash and this too; just overflowing. “
Sabrina Knight-Bustillos remembers walking across exposed mud to cast a line into the lake.
“You were walking in the lake because the water was that low. You could walk in there and it would take you all the way down.”
But low water’s a long way from a worry now. High water’s the issue and not just in the lakes.
Standing water made places like Grant and Alvernon, and Silverlake and 9th Avenue a splashy, slippery mess----
And the washes have been running hard through our wettest weekend in years.
