COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. (KGUN) — Washes are designed to move water, but roads intersecting those paths can become death traps during a monsoon storm, which is why emergency management officials constantly warn drivers not to drive through flooded areas.
Throughout Cochise County, there are low-water crossing areas—usually, roads intersect washes, which is why they get flooded. Cochise County's Director of Emergency Management, Dan Duchon, says since the roads aren't built on a bridge or culvert, the water has to pass through the roads.
The washes are reinforced with concrete to help keep the roads from eroding and to direct the flowing water.
"If we didn't have this type of reinforcement, the water would come over the road and eat away behind it, and ultimately lead to the road cracking and failing,” Duchon said.
In many areas of the county, the water flows over the road into the connecting wash, often causing flooding on these types of streets. The added water causes traps for drivers.
"It's just how much rain we get in a short period of time, and the ground doesn't absorb it that well, it all comes and funnels into these washes, so (that) puts all that rain in one place, and it moves fast,” Duchon said.
The flowing water from one side of the road to the other is more dangerous than sitting water, for drivers.
"Even a few inches (of water) can move a car during the monsoon season," Ducson said. "Considering the size of the county, there's roads washed out every day. It's a large county, 6200 square miles, and with the amount of monsoons we get, there's one place in the county where something's washed out almost every day.”
The flowing water can move trees, branches, cars, and almost anything in its path.
"You may hear two to three inches of rain, but that's multiplied and aggregated all in this one area," Duchon said. "It's very powerful.”
These areas are often marked with signs, and Duchon says the county's message each year is 'turn around, don't drown'. Despite the warning signs, people have lost their lives in these cross-flowing areas.
“If you get trapped in a flooded vehicle, you could lose your life," he said. "Unfortunately, every few years, here, we do see somebody that enters a flooded wash and every so often they will lose their life.”
Duchon says flooding is a problem across the state, but isn't often considered an issue.
"Here in the desert, we always think and worry about wildfires, but when we look at the amount of emergency declarations and damage here in Cochise County, almost 50% of our emergency declarations over the last 40 years were due to flooding, not fires,” he said.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
