Some broadcast news channels are touting the arrival of Tropical Storm Rosa as a deluge on the scale of Hurricane Florence, which battered the East Coast last month. We can expect heavy rainfall and localized flash flooding, but nothing on the scale of eastern hurricanes.
The Pacific storm cycle is a far different creature than we see off the Atlantic seaboard.
Due to prevailing winds in the Northern Hemisphere, tropical storms and hurricanes form over the Atlantic Ocean as trade winds from Africa meet warm equatorial winds on the northern coast of South America. The western Atlantic works like a funnel pushing these storms into the Caribbean Sea, then to the East Coast or into the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricanes generally move from east to west, spinning in a counter-clockwise direction north of the Equator due to the Coriolis effect.
On the western side of North America, most major storms are formed as echoes of storms from the Atlantic as they cross over Central America, meeting warm equatorial winds on the east coast of South America, forming south and southwest of Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, then push into the open Pacific for hundreds of barren miles.
Rarely, the winds will push these storms north along the Mexican coast until they reach winds heading toward Baja California and make landfall.
Of the 19 named storms this season, only three — Hurricane Bud, Tropical Storm Carlotta and Hurricane Rosa — threatened the coast. Bud hit near Cabo San Lucas in June, Carlotta stalled off the coast before dissipating and Rosa dissipated before reaching Baja.
However, the moisture from Rosa continues to push into the Sonoran Desert and Arizona before reaching us in the Verde Valley. The intense winds of a hurricane have had hundreds of miles to dissipate so we get the rain, but not the heavy winds that tend to do the real damage when a storm makes landfall.
But the rain will cause problems. The effects of Rosa will be in our area until at least Wednesday and possibly into Thursday. Residents in low-lying areas of the city should prepare for sustained rainfall if they haven’t already. As of this writing, the Phoenix area has already recorded more than an inch of rain.
The city of Sedona offers several locations for free sandbags at: Sedona Red Rock High School, the Sedona United Methodist Church, the Uptown public parking lot and the city maintenance yard on Contractors Road.
Certain parts of the city, such as Little Elf Drive, Coffee Pot Drive, the low area at Brewer and Ranger roads and along Oak Creek may see flooding conditions. If waters begin to rise sharply, seek shelter on higher ground.
If you come to a road that has been flooded, do not try to cross. For newer residents of Arizona, the state has what is colloquially known as the “stupid motorist law.”
Arizona Revised Statute §28-910, titled “Liability for emergency responses in flood areas” reads: “A driver of a vehicle who drives the vehicle on a public street or highway that is temporarily covered by a rise in water level, including groundwater or overflow of water, and that is barricaded because of flooding, is liable for the expenses of any emergency response that is required to remove from the public street or highway the driver or any passenger in the vehicle that becomes inoperable on the public street or highway or the vehicle that becomes inoperable on the public street or highway, or both.”
Basically, if a road is flooded, don’t try to cross, as you could be required to pay for your rescue. Find an alternate route.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
