Flooding in Four Corners prompts rooftop rescues and evacuations

New Mexico guard units deploy boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles

Severe flooding in the Four Corners region led to rooftop and water rescues and evacuation orders across parts of New Mexico and Colorado on Friday, October 23, 2026. Residents in low-lying areas were told to leave, while other communities advised residents to shelter in place until waters receded. Roads in parts of the four-state region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah were impassable.

In New Mexico, an unknown number of people were rescued overnight and again Friday by guard boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles, San Juan County spokesperson Devin Neeley said. Deputies were also sent to get people out of their homes. “We’re picking people off of roofs and pulling people out of houses that have 3 or 4ft (1-1.5 metres) of water in them, and there’s more water coming,” Neeley said.

Even as skies cleared, rivers continued to rise and forecast crests had been surpassed, Neeley said. He said deputies were still trying to remove residents from their homes and that the county sheriff was nearly certain to lose his home.

About 600 households in Farmington were told to evacuate, and areas along the San Juan River were closed off, city spokesperson Gina Intoppa said. “We are kind of all hands on deck,” Intoppa said. Farmington is the largest city in the Four Corners, the only place in the US where four states come together.

National Guard members were deployed to assist with flooding in southwestern Colorado. Rising waters prompted mandatory evacuations along four rivers, including the San Juan River through Pagosa Springs. The resort town, known for its riverside hot springs, had suffered flooding from a similar weather pattern a year earlier. Gov. Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency in 11 counties in response to heavy rain and flooding in southwestern Colorado.

The Archuleta County sheriff’s office instructed residents Friday: “Please shelter in place, water levels are beginning to recede, but many roads are impassable and unsafe for travel.” In nearby Rio Grande County, trailers at a campground were surrounded by high water, while trucks were partially submerged in other areas. In South Fork, Colorado, floodwaters surrounded trailers at the Fun Valley Family Resort campground and RV park on Friday.

Several busy days of flooding in Utah had swamped dozens of homes. The city of Hurricane in far southwestern Utah was cleaning up after declaring a state of emergency Thursday. Reddish-brown floodwater reached about 80 homes in a neighborhood and 50 recreational vehicles in an RV park. A shipping container also drifted slowly down a street.

Earlier in the week, tornadoes in Arizona blew off roofs, knocked trees onto houses and downed power lines. At least one person was injured.

The flooding followed two months of heavy rain that ended a summer of drought, Kate Abbott, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Junction, Colorado, said. Parts of the southwestern United States are rocky, have little vegetation and are naturally prone to flash flooding. Abbott said recent rains had made flooding everywhere more likely.

“At this point we’re saturated and can’t take too much more without flooding,” Abbott said. “This is the third or fourth round of this kind of moisture we’ve seen in as many weeks.”