It never rains in the desert?

blindzebra

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I live in Phoenix and last night we had one of the worst monsoon storms in history.

Over 3 inches of rain fell in about an hour and the city ain't built for that kind of water.

My apartment complex is wall-to-wall Red Cross today, cars are being towed, and many people are homeless.

I was very lucky, one I live on the second floor and two a whole bunch of last minute things kept my car out of the parking lot that became a 4 foot deep lake.

As most of you know I ref basketball and I got switched gyms and game times at the last minute, had I been at my original games, I'd have been home before the storm hit.

As it was I started home in a dust storm that turned to heavy rain, I stopped at a store because it was raining too hard to see. I waited a few minutes and than started home again. I reached the corner my apartment complex is on and was waiting to turn into the back entrance, but I saw a car really throwing up water on the side street, so I went for the front entrance and saw break lights on a pretty steep downslope. I thought screw it, I'll park at the Walgreens, and found high ground.

I walked the half block home, looking like a drowned rat, seeing cars in our parking lot with water up to the windows, and cars floating down the lot.

I crossed the butt deep river that was now the entrance to the complex and made it to my apartment.

Today the place looks like a war zone. All the ground floor apartments in the middle buildings had sunken patios with sliding doors and windows broken out
by 3 to 4 feet of water that pooled up on their patio from what ran off the roof and sidewalks.

My car was safe, unharmed and even cleaner than it was pre-storm.:D No damage to my apartment, either I was really lucky.

Others, were not.
 

BrAinPaiNt

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Something like this happened at the NTC (national training center) out of Fort Ord in Cali.

It is mostly a desert area training place where many troops go on a once a year mission where they face army troops nicknamed Op4 (short for opposition force where they dress as enemy soldiers).

Anyways one year I did not have to go as I was assigned to do some other stuff but the majority of my company went there.

They had a storm like you desribed and had a bad flash flood go through their camp. One girl almost drowned and had to be rescued and the flood took a good portion of the camp away and they found it a few miles away after the storm.

So...yes it does happen in those enviroments at times.
 

silverbear

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BrAinPaiNt said:
Something like this happened at the NTC (national training center) out of Fort Ord in Cali.

It is mostly a desert area training place where many troops go on a once a year mission where they face army troops nicknamed Op4 (short for opposition force where they dress as enemy soldiers).

Anyways one year I did not have to go as I was assigned to do some other stuff but the majority of my company went there.

They had a storm like you desribed and had a bad flash flood go through their camp. One girl almost drowned and had to be rescued and the flood took a good portion of the camp away and they found it a few miles away after the storm.

So...yes it does happen in those enviroments at times.


Growin' up in El Paso as a kid, we spent a lot of time out in the desert, and we all knew to get the h*ll out of any arroyo just as soon as it started raining... head for the high ground, and wait it out... watch while those arroyos become instant rivers...

And an hour later, they'd be dry again... well, they'd be muddy, but no more flowin' water...
 

StevenOtero

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I know , here in Alamogordo , New Mexico it has been the "wettest" season in awhile.
 

Yeagermeister

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We had a bad storm blow through a couple of weeks ago that cause havok on the streets. We had a lake form right down the street from where I work. Someone in a taurus type sedan tried to drive through it and the water was up to his window. I didn't even attempt it in an Explorer.
 

Waffle

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blindzebra said:
I live in Phoenix and last night we had one of the worst monsoon storms in history.

Over 3 inches of rain fell in about an hour and the city ain't built for that kind of water.

My apartment complex is wall-to-wall Red Cross today, cars are being towed, and many people are homeless.

I was very lucky, one I live on the second floor and two a whole bunch of last minute things kept my car out of the parking lot that became a 4 foot deep lake.

As most of you know I ref basketball and I got switched gyms and game times at the last minute, had I been at my original games, I'd have been home before the storm hit.

As it was I started home in a dust storm that turned to heavy rain, I stopped at a store because it was raining too hard to see. I waited a few minutes and than started home again. I reached the corner my apartment complex is on and was waiting to turn into the back entrance, but I saw a car really throwing up water on the side street, so I went for the front entrance and saw break lights on a pretty steep downslope. I thought screw it, I'll park at the Walgreens, and found high ground.

I walked the half block home, looking like a drowned rat, seeing cars in our parking lot with water up to the windows, and cars floating down the lot.

I crossed the butt deep river that was now the entrance to the complex and made it to my apartment.

Today the place looks like a war zone. All the ground floor apartments in the middle buildings had sunken patios with sliding doors and windows broken out
by 3 to 4 feet of water that pooled up on their patio from what ran off the roof and sidewalks.

My car was safe, unharmed and even cleaner than it was pre-storm.:D No damage to my apartment, either I was really lucky.

Others, were not.

That sucks, BZ. Glad you were fortunate enough to come out unscathed!
 

Kangaroo

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otero1 said:
I know , here in Alamogordo , New Mexico it has been the "wettest" season in awhile.

hehe spent little over two months there back in like 1993 working with the border patrol out there.

:eek:

Do you work on the base or you a pin head err I mean a Airforce personel :nana:
 
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