Sedona soaked by flooding from rain and snowmelt2 min read

Larry Allen points to the flooded bridge at the Sedona Rainbow Trout Farm in Oak Creek Canyon on Wednesday, March 15. Allen lives at Rainbow Trailer Park and utilizes this bridge often to get home. [David Jolkovski / Larson Newspapers]

More than an inch of rain fell in Sedona and the Verde Valley on Wednesday night, combining with warm temperatures and high levels of snowmelt to produce widespread flooding.

Water levels in Oak Creek rose by an estimated nine feet, while the Verde River rose by as much as 15 to 20 feet in some areas and Wet Beaver Creek peaked at 13 feet above its usual level.

Beginning at 3:40 p.m., Sedona police began going door-to-door along Brewer Road and side streets, warning residents to be prepared to leave if rising water levels reached their properties. The city directed residents to the city maintenance yard, the Uptown parking lot and Sedona United Methodist Church if they needed to fill sandbags. They also conducted pet welfare checks.

At 6:01 p.m., the city announced that residents of Trails End Drive, Trails End Lane, Blackhawk Lane, Newcastle Lane, Oak Creek Mobilodge, Copper Cliffs Drive, Copper Cliffs Lane, Sycamore Road, The Villas at Poco Diablo Resort, the Center for the New Age, the Rancho Sedona RV park and the houses north of Rancho Sedona RV Park along Bear Wallow Lane should evacuate immediately if they had not already left.

Residents were directed to the nearest emergency shelter, which is Camp Verde Middle School. Yavapai County officials also issued an evacuation order for Verde Lakes and parts of Rimrock.

A series of landslides in Oak Creek Canyon closed State Route 89A north of Sedona as far as Interstate 17. As of Thursday morning, the highway was expected to reopen by 6 p.m. on Thursday evening. Evacuation orders in Sedona had also been lifted by that time.

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As of Thursday, Sedona had received between 9.24 and 10.83 inches of precipitation for the year to date, substantially above the average of 5.46 inches for this time of year.

An ephemeral waterfall pours down the side of Oak Creek Canyon on Wednesday, March 15 as seen from Encinoso Picnic Site. [David Jolkovski / Larson Newspapers]
Tim Perry

Tim Perry grew up in Colorado and Montana and studied history at the University of North Dakota and the University of Hawaii before finding his way to Sedona. He is the author of eight novels and two nonfiction books in genres including science fiction, alternate history, contemporary fantasy, and biography. An avid hiker and traveler, he has lived on a sailboat in Florida, flown airplanes in the Rocky Mountains, and competed in showjumping and three-day eventing. He is currently at work on a new book exploring the relationships between human biochemistry and the evolution of cultural traits.

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