Arizona floods
Every recorded flood since 1996 · 15 counties with a record
NOAA's Storm Events Database records 3,896 floods and flash floods in Arizona from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 139 a year since 2000. The deadliest was the August 12, 1997 flash flood in Coconino County: 11 deaths, 1 injury and $552,000 in damage in 2025 dollars across 2 records. Arizona ranks 18th of 52 states and territories by count and 37th of 51 per square mile.
Floods in Arizona, 1996 to 2026
Flood records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $1 million
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- Records
- 3,8961996 to June 30, 2026
- A year since 2000
- 139average
- Deaths
- 127180 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $368Mas filed
- Busiest year
- 2022468 records
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.
Are floods and flash floods common in Arizona?
Arizona averages about 139 floods and flash floods a year since 2000, 18th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2022 (468). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Arizona records 343 floods and flash floods since 1996, 37th of 51 states and territories by that measure.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.
Which counties in Arizona have the most floods and flash floods?
Per square mile, Santa Cruz County leads Arizona: 83 days with a flood since 1996, 67.1 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Mohave County has the most flood records (697 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.
When is flood season in Arizona?
68% of its floods and flash floods since 1996 fell in July and August. The busiest month is August (1,376 records).
The values, month by month
Jan 54 · Feb 40 · Mar 72 · Apr 19 · May 28 · Jun 68 · Jul 1,267 · Aug 1,376 · Sep 585 · Oct 275 · Nov 79 · Dec 33 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.
What were the deadliest floods and flash floods in Arizona?
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-08-12 | Flash FloodPage, Coconino County One storm episode: 2 records; the totals are the episode's. Eleven hikers and tourists were drowned by a flash flood in a narrow slot canyon 5 miles southeast of Page. A severe thunderstorm 3 to 5 miles upstream produced very heavy rain causing a 10-30 foot wall of water to crash down Antelope Canyon. In the area of the flood fatalities the depth and width of Antelope Canyon ... | 11 | 1 | $552K | |
| 2017-07-15 | Flash FloodWashington Park, Gila County Very heavy rain over the Highland Fire scar and surrounding areas produced flash flooding in Ellison Creek which flows into the East Verde River. This is a very popular swimming area during the summer. Ten people were killed by the flooding (ages 2 to 57). Four people were rescued by helicopter after they were trapped ... | 10 | 0 | – | |
| 1997-08-06 | Flash FloodDouglas, Cochise County Six illegal aliens attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico were drowned when they tried to cross a flooded drainage ditch. | 6 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-09-26 | Flash FloodPinal, Gila County One storm episode: 42 records in 4 places, 2025-09-26 to 2025-09-27; the totals are the episode's. A slow-moving low pressure system brought several rounds of showers and thunderstorms over multiple days through much of the region. Activity on the 25th was mostly concentrated across higher terrain areas of eastern AZ, fueled by MLCAPE values approaching 2000 J/kg. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the ... | 4 | 0 | $26M | |
| 1998-03-28 | Flash FloodSunflower, Maricopa County Three members of a Boy Scout troop perished after their sport utility vehicle was swept out from under them. The scouts tried to cross a running wash near Sunflower. Occasionally heavy rain showers persisted in the area throughout the afternoon and early evening. | 3 | 0 | – | |
| 2008-08-03 | Flash FloodWickchoupai, Pima County Swift water rescue was attempted at Sells Wash near Sells. The vehicle was washed away attempting to cross wash. Three people died and two were rescued. | 3 | 0 | – | |
| 2023-03-21 | FloodWhispering Pines, Gila County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places, 2023-03-21 to 2023-03-22; the totals are the episode's. The first in a series of disturbances moved across Arizona from March 20 to 21. This caused widespread snow showers to develop. The heaviest snow was over the higher terrain in upslope areas. This storm also delivered strong and damaging winds. The higher snow levels caused significant melting of lower elevation snow ... | 3 | 0 | – | |
| 2019-11-29 | FloodPunkin Center, Gila County A powerful Pacific low pressure system moving slowly east across Arizona interacted with deep moisture to produce widespread moderate to heavy rain across the higher terrain areas to the north and east of Phoenix during the morning hours on November 29th. Initially the heavy rain led to flash flooding and caused area ... | 3 | 0 | $58K | |
| 2001-08-11 | Flash FloodSupai, Coconino County A two year old boy and his parents were killed in a flash flood while hiking in Havasu Canyon. Two other family members had reached the the safety of Havasupai Village before the late night storm hit. | 3 | 0 | – | |
| 2008-07-12 | Flash FloodNogales, Santa Cruz County Heavy rainfall on the Mexican side of the border caused flash flooding in the city of Nogales, Arizona. This was caused by a damaged portion of the underground Nogales Wash. Local emergency management reported that water burst through the underground wash onto the surface just across the International Border. The ... | 2 | 3 | $822K |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.
The costliest floods and flash floods in Arizona
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-07-29 | Flash FloodMiami, Gila County | 0 | 0 | $44M | |
| 2021-08-14 | Flash FloodGila Bend Municipal, Maricopa County | 2 | 0 | $27M | |
| 2025-09-26 | Flash FloodPinal, Gila County One storm episode: 42 records in 4 places, 2025-09-26 to 2025-09-27; the totals are the episode's. | 4 | 0 | $26M | |
| 1999-07-15 | Flash FloodTucson, Pima County | 0 | 0 | $18M | |
| 2000-10-22 | Flash FloodWenden, La Paz County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. | 1 | 0 | $17M | |
| 2007-08-24 | Flash FloodNogales, Santa Cruz County | 0 | 0 | $14M | |
| 2008-08-16 | Flash FloodHavasupai, Coconino County | 0 | 0 | $14M | |
| 2012-07-31 | Flash FloodNew River, Maricopa County | 0 | 1 | $13M |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.
Are floods and flash floods becoming more frequent in Arizona?
Arizona's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.
| Decade | Arizona | United States | Arizona's share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-99 | 266 | 20,986 | 1.3% |
| 2000s | 705 | 54,913 | 1.3% |
| 2010s | 1,470 | 68,322 | 2.2% |
| 2020-26 | 1,455 | 43,563 | 3.3% |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
The most recent floods and flash floods in Arizona
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-25 | Flash FloodBenson, Cochise County | 0 | 0 | $2K | |
| 2026-06-17 | Flash FloodCascabel, Cochise County | 0 | 0 | $5K | |
| 2026-06-17 | Flash FloodDrexel Hgts, Pima County | 0 | 0 | $5K | |
| 2026-06-17 | Flash FloodSouth Tucson, Pima County | 1 | 2 | $5K | |
| 2026-06-17 | Flash FloodTucson, Pima County | 0 | 0 | $3K | |
| 2026-06-17 | Flash FloodNaco, Cochise County | 0 | 0 | $2K | |
| 2026-06-17 | Flash FloodSahuarita, Pima County | 0 | 0 | $5K | |
| 2026-06-14 | Flash FloodSedona Airport, Coconino County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-14 | Flash FloodHavasupai, Coconino County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-14 | Flash FloodCordes, Yavapai County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-14 | Flash FloodCordes, Yavapai County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-11-19 | Flash FloodNew River, Maricopa County | 0 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.
Federal disaster declarations for floods and flash floods in Arizona
FEMA has declared 29 disasters in Arizona for floods and flash floods, counting its incident type and declarations that name flood in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 29 were major disasters, the latest on May 29, 2026.
| Declared | Number | Title | Areas named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-29 | DR-4911 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 1 |
| 2024-10-25 | DR-4840 | Flooding | 1 |
| 2023-04-11 | DR-4703 | Severe Winter Storms and Flooding | 1 |
| 2022-12-30 | DR-4681 | Flooding | 1 |
| 2021-09-13 | DR-4620 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 3 |
| 2019-05-21 | DR-4436 | Snowstorm and Flooding | 1 |
| 2018-11-30 | DR-4409 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 1 |
| 2018-08-31 | DR-4389 | Severe Storms, Flooding, and Landslides | 1 |
| 2014-11-05 | DR-4203 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 2 |
| 2010-12-21 | DR-1950 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 1 |
| 2010-10-04 | DR-1940 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 2 |
| 2010-03-18 | DR-1888 | Severe Winter Storms and Flooding | 14 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.
Next
- Santa Cruz County: the county's whole recordThe Arizona county with the most floods and flash floods per square mile
- Floods across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
- Every natural hazard in ArizonaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
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