Arizona Governor Jan Brewer declared a state of emergency for the whole state after Hurricane Norbert brought torrential rains across the state.
Hurricane Norbert became a category 3 hurricane last week west of Baja, Calif.
The hurricane tracked northwest towards southern California and has all but fallen apart in the colder water.
However, the moisture from the hurricane pushed into the southwest USA and joined the already active summer monsoon. This created a widespread very heavy rainfall event centered on Arizona.
A 24-hour rainfall record was smashed in Phoenix, Ariz., Sunday into Monday with the amount of 3 inches. Some spots saw 5 inches of rain!
The average rainfall in Phoenix between January 1st and September 8th is 5.46 inches. So, this is way too much water for the city to handle in this short amount of time.
The rain was not only in Phoenix, but also in many locations across the state. A flash flood watch is in effect for much of the state into Monday night.
The good news is that the rain will be exiting and drier days are ahead, but the mess will take a while to clean up.
Some of this moisture will head into the plains and stream ahead of a strong cold front Tuesday into Wednesday.
This will bring some heavy rain near KC, mostly across Nebraska and Iowa.
