Phoenix-area storms prompt flash flood warnings, knock out power for thousands

Heavy rain came down in parts of central and southern Arizona on Wednesday, triggering a series of flash flood warnings and a wave of power outages.

Scattered and widespread storms were expected to continue across the region throughout the day, according to Sean Benedict, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

“We have an environment that’s very suitable for very heavy rain,” Benedict told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Wednesday morning.

The weather service issued a stream of flash flood warnings during the morning and afternoon for multiple areas, including parts of the East Valley, Fountain Hills, Cave Creek, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale and Anthem.

The weather service previously issued a flood watch across the Valley through 11 p.m. because of the potential for flash flooding.

Several thousand Valley customers of Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service were without power in the afternoon, according to the utility companies’ outage maps.

“In addition to there being the flooding risk, can’t quite rule out the potential for some isolated severe storms in there,” Benedict said. “With all this moisture, you could potentially put down some wet microbursts that could lead to some damaging winds. So, looking like an active day.”

Valley storms delay air travel, drop temperatures

Over an inch of rain came down in a deluge near Falcon Field in Mesa during the 11 o’clock hour. Rain started falling further west, including at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, before 11:30 a.m.

By early afternoon, the daily totals were already over 2 inches at hard-hit spots in Cave Creek and Apache Junction.

The weather prompted a temporary ground stop for departures from certain zones to Sky Harbor from noon to 1:15 p.m.

The activity also had a significant cooling affect, as the Phoenix temperature plummeted to 81 degrees at noon after sitting at 95 degrees about 30 minutes earlier.

Monsoon rainfall was on the low side before Wednesday

Phoenix entered the day with a rainfall total of 1.41 inches for the 2026 monsoon season (June 15-Sept. 30), which is 0.77 inches below normal.

Wednesday’s rainfall totals will vary widely by location.

“There’s indications that some areas could see very high rainfall amounts, even upwards of 3 to 4 inches,” Benedict said. “Just the average rainfall amount’s probably going to be more in that, maybe, half to an inch range around south-central Arizona, and then it drops off as you head west.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Colton Krolak contributed to this report.

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