Saturday's Flooding In Moab Was A Once-In-A-Hundred-Year Event

The past couple of weeks have brought monsoons to the American West, with some of them wreaking havoc on Death Valley, Las Vegas, and Zion National Park. The latest location that became victim to the floods was Moab, Utah, which is home to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that 1 to 1.5 inches of rain fell in Moab on Saturday night, with nearly an inch of rain that fell in a twenty-minute span. This led to flooding, best shown by the situation on Main Street in Moab. The flooding on Main Street was three feet deep in some spots, leading to challenging driving conditions.

It is being referred to as a once-in-a-hundred-year flood, due to an event like this having a 1% chance of happening in a calendar year. This is their third flash flood in the past month, but this one was the biggest of the three.

On Sunday, the rain concluded, but a muddy mess with a bunch of debris from branches, grass, and other objects led to a significant cleanup process. Additionally, the Mill Creek Parkway is closed until further notice. The disadvantage of getting this much rain so fast in a desert town is the mud flooding that follows, along with the water needed to clear the debris afterward. Some stunning videos of the flooding from Twitter user Swat Lake City are below.

Video of Main Street in Moab turned into a river. A car in this video was pinned to the curb by the Main Street water current pic.twitter.com/I4bt3rAtvo

— Swat Lake City (@Neildos) August 21, 2022