Massive cleanup after deadly floods swept through Phoenix

By KTVK/KPHO Staff

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    GILA BEND, Arizona (KTVK, KPHO) — Cleanup is underway in Gila Bend after heavy flooding this weekend devastated the small community and left two people dead. “It’s heartbreaking, it truly is,” said Gila Bend Mayor Chris Riggs. “I mean, these are… everybody in this community is a friend of mine.”

“Everything is destroyed,” said resident Claudia Alvarado. “We couldn’t save anything. It’s been hard.”

Heavy monsoon rains pounded the town southwest of Phoenix, and a state of emergency was declared. Some residents actually had to be rescued from their rooftops as floodwaters continued to rise.

“We didn’t expect this at all,” said Gila Bend resident Ty Turner. His family was sleeping Friday night when the water levels started to rise. “Luckily, our little brothers woke us up because we would have either drowned or woken up a little bit worse and not saved anything,” said Turner.

With some help from firefighters, Turner and his family got to their roof where a helicopter took them to safety. For some people in Gila Bend, it was hard to fully prepare for something like this because there was nothing to compare it to. “This is like the first time I’ve ever seen it like this, get this bad. We never get any rain. Since this was the first time, it was shocking for me,” said Gila Bend resident Jaize Puffer.

“We didn’t think that something like that could happen here in Gila Bend,” said Alvarado. “Especially because this is a small town, we don’t know where all that water came from.”

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office officials said a woman in her 50s was swept down the river bottom in one of the washes. The second victim was in their vehicle when the floodwaters swept it away. The vehicle was found upside down.

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