Monsoon still brings more wind, rain to area

While the Foothills was digging out from the aftermath of Sunday's severe storm, another storm brought more rain Monday.

About noon Monday, as many Foothills residents remained without power or water, the National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for west central Yuma County with the detection of a strong thunderstorm six miles southeast of the Foothills area moving north at 20 mph.

An estimated one-half to three-quarters inch of rain fell early Monday afternoon between the Foothills and Araby Road, according to NWS. But winds didn't approach the velocity of Sunday's storm.

More storm activity may still be coming, though, noted Gary Woodall, a meteorologist with NWS in Phoenix.

He explained that an upper low system has been hovering over Baja California, leading to storm activity that is moving Yuma's way. He expects potential storm activity to continue through Tuesday and into Wednesday, then lessening as the low moves out.

“It's just that time of year. It's part of the monsoon season.”

Sunday's powerful storm actually was three storms that came together at the same time over the Yuma area, Woodall said.

One came from the east, another from the Gulf of California and a third from the south.

“The storms lined up next to each other ... moving shoulder to shoulder. They all hit at the same time.”

The storm system hit the Foothills around 4:45 p.m. Sunday and Yuma about a half hour later, he said. The worst of the storm activity lasted about an hour, bringing wind gusts of up to 65 mph and some rain. Winds continuing for awhile longer as the storm moved on to Imperial County.

Woodall said about 14/100ths of an inch of rainfall was recorded at the Yuma International Airport. He didn't have the amount of rainfall for the Foothills, but heard that Fortuna Wash was flooded.

Fortuna Wash was running and the water impacted traffic on Highway 95 for several hours, confirmed Gabriella Kemp, Yuma-area spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Transportation.

“Fortuna Wash was running like a river,” she said, resulting in the closure of a portion of Highway 95 for several hours. Both northbound and southbound lanes were reopened to traffic about midnight.

Kemp said Monday's rainfall did not result in the closure of the roadway.

But most of the damage from Sunday's storm was due to the wind, Woodall said.

“The widespread rain was less a factor than the wind. There was definitely some wind damage.”

Woodall said that year to date, Yuma has received 2.17 inches of rain. That's a little less than normal but nearly an inch ahead of this same time last year.

“It's been a wetter, more humid summer,” he said.