Southwest floods of 2006

Severe southwest flash floods started late in the month of July, 2006 in the southwest regions of United States. The areas hit the hardest were New Mexico, El Paso, Texas and Arizona. What caused the severe floods were up 15 days or more of record rain.

The city of El Paso saw twice it's average rain in 2 weeks. The southwest monsoon season is becoming a severe threat to many people in these states. One park in El Paso was closed due to the spread of ecoli. El Paso was declared a state of emergency from July 27 to Aug 20th. Dam breaks are now a major concern. At least 100 million dollars in damage has been done in El Paso. In New Mexico, the floods have cooled temperatures and lowered the drought and wildfire threat. But rivers were close to record stage, and underpasses severely flooded by draining waters. Since this is a desert area the ground can't hold much water. In Arizona the same things that happened in New Mexico happened with the flash floods, cooling temperatures and lowered wildfire and drought threat. Roads have been washed out and business and homes have been evacuated. This was some of the heaviest rains since 1992.

Externial links

[http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2006/aug/hazards.html NCDC]