By Meteorologists Tyler Ory, Chris Dolce, Briana Waxman, and CNN’s Kate S. Petersen
(CNN) — 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 has finally ended in the Southwest after the storm dropped multiple months’ worth of it, causing waterways to burst their banks and forcing evacuations in at least a dozen counties across parts of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
In Flagstaff, Arizona, a 73-year-old man was found dead early Monday morning after reportedly falling into floodwater Sunday evening, according to the Flagstaff Police Department. He was identified as Williams Singavarapu in a news release.
A second man was found dead in Flagstaff Monday morning in a stormwater drainage area, according to police. The death appeared to be weather-related, but an official cause of death is under investigation, Flagstaff police said.
Crews around Sedona, Arizona, have also conducted rooftop rescues amid dangerous flooding.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs declared a statewide state of emergency Monday “to ensure our local authorities have the resources they need to clear roads, repair infrastructure, and help displaced residents,” Hobbs said in a news release.
Over 10 rivers, creeks and washes in Arizona and southwest Colorado have 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 has unfolded along the Little Colorado River near Winslow, Arizona, and the Gila River near Solomon, Arizona. Early Monday morning, the Gila River crested 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.
Around 20,000 people in northwestern New Mexico’s San Juan County received alerts to evacuate areas within a half mile of the Animas, La Plata and San Juan rivers, county spokesperson Devin Neeley told CNN Monday. Rescues are underway and water has entered homes, he said.
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.
Mandatory evacuations were also issued Sunday evening along the Rio Grande in South Fork, Del Norte and Monte Vista, Colorado. No injuries or missing people have been reported in those areas as of Monday morning, according to South Fork officials.
The dangerous weather has impacted some voting locations in Pagosa Springs ahead of Election Day: A voting center and ballot drop box have been relocated, according to a Sunday news release from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. Those impacted by floods can request an emergency ballot online or go to another voting center, but they’ll be limited to statewide races only if they go to one outside their home county.
In New Mexico, all polling locations will be opened as planned for Election Day, a spokesperson for the New Mexico secretary of state’s office told CNN. Local officials in Arizona’s Cococino and Yavapai counties said they were not expecting major Election Day disruptions as of Monday afternoon. CNN has reached out to state election officials in Arizona and Colorado for more information.
In Utah Monday, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson issued an emergency election accommodation order to allow San Juan County voters “who are unable to reasonably travel to in-person polling or drop box locations on Election Day to request and return their ballots electronically.”
Persistent rain and historic flooding in Florida’s Space Coast on Monday resulted in the relocation of eight precinct polling locations in Brevard County, its Supervisor of Elections announced.
The storm is now pushing into the Plains and Midwest with gusty winds and soaking rain.
Severe thunderstorms rumbled to life Monday afternoon and will continue overnight 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.
The-CNN-Wire
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